Lechabile Storage Solutions named top Symantec (VERITAS) Enterprise Partner for 2005

As South African managers increasingly embrace the necessity for effective disaster recovery, business continuity and information integrity solutions, the new Symantec - recently merged with VERITAS - has named enterprise storage specialist Lechabile Storage Solutions as its top Symantec (VERITAS) Enterprise Partner of the Year 2005.

According to Jonathan de Magalh~aes, Symantec storage solutions product manager at Lechabile Storage Solutions, the company has experienced strong sales in the last year, as well as an increased ability to meet market needs and provide best-of-breed information availability technologies - strong contributing factors to the achievement of this award for the second year running.

Elizabeth le Roux, business development manager at Symantec, says that not only did Lechabile deliver the highest revenue for the period, it is also a certified Elite Partner - the highest level within the company's partner programme.

"We consider skilled and experienced partners such as Lechabile to be an extension of our office. With its technical and sales skills, it is able to work independently and is capable of selling a total solution to end-users," she adds.

In addition to holding specialist storage skills, Lechabile is the only organisation to operate an authorised VERITAS certified Training Academy from its premises, ensuring clients are able to realise the full benefits when implementing software solutions. Furthermore, Lechabile's focus on providing complete storage solutions has enabled it to build long-term relationships with its customer base. De Magalh~aes adds that Lechabile is truly committed to the lifetime value of the customer and has been assisting customers leverage the business value of these solutions for the past 23 years.

On the topic of sales volumes, Lechabile states that sales have not been limited by vertical markets and that the company has been active across the government, mining, manufacturing, healthcare, media and broadcasting sectors, as well as many other industries. Therefore, this is indicative of the widespread acceptance by South African businesses of the importance of data protection, information availability and recovery.

Concurrent to this market acceptance of the need for data protection and recovery, there is an increasing acceptance of the Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) concept, which is in turn driving the demand for enabling software. In simple terms, an ILM strategy aligns the business value of data against the cost of managing and storing it. While this is not a new concept, modern software such as that provided by Symantec, enables the automation and effective implementation of such a strategy.

Noting that hype often takes some time to become reality, De Magalh~aes says the classic Gartner Hype Cycle has applied in the world of data management, as the market has seen the hype around disaster recovery and ILM wax and wane.

"However, now that the hype has died down, customers are buying into the concepts. Thus, compliance with data storage regulations is anticipated to take a high priority on corporate agendas in coming months," adds De Magalh~aes.

On the topic of the merger between Symantec and VERITAS, De Magalh~aes believes that the new company's combined products will occupy a unique position in the market.

"Information is the new corporate currency. In addition to effective storage and retrieval of systems, it has to be well protected. The new Symantec is built from acknowledged leaders in both storage management and security, so this is an exciting development for the company's partners," De Magalh~aes concludes.