IBM World Trade has appointed Maxtec Ltd, the only South African distributor of the entire range of IBM mid-range to high-end storage solutions, as its sole value-added distributor of storage systems in sub-Saharan Africa which includes the provision of education, training, and support of the entire range of hardware and software products.
Maxtec will be responsible for the demand generation of the products through the IBM Central Africa Focal Point offices and the reseller channel.
"This is a significant breakthrough for our group. IBM has placed their trust in us based on the success of our sales and support teams in the local market," states Maxtec Ltd managing director, George Talbot. Maxtec received recognition as top Business Partner showing the highest growth in IBM storage sales earlier this year.
"Although Maxtec will be responsible for large sales volumes, the group will carry no additional currency and stock redundancy risk thanks to the ongoing relationships IBM shares with resellers through their extensive marketing channels. Goods will be ordered and shipped on a weekly basis from Amsterdam directly to the client," explains Talbot.
"We will be targeting the major African centres first, such as Nairobi in Kenya, Harare and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, Gabarone in Botswana, and Accra in Ghana," continues Talbot.
The African drive will be overseen by Stella Bakaniozos, sales director at Maxtec, who says that a separate company will be formed to give the business the focus it requires.
"Marketing research conducted by Maxtec has already identified the most likely buyers for storage products in this geographic area," says Talbot, and these will include enterprises in the banking and financial services sectors, and in the mining sector including oil refineries, government and semi-government organisations.
The storage solutions that Maxtec provide have undergone a significant transformation over the last few years. According to Talbot, "storage is no longer a stand-alone solution", but requires technicians with the necessary skills, and detailed knowledge of operating platforms and systems integration.
The company has recently opened a training centre to run education and technical training courses, and has set up a services division to provide the support and maintenance required.
Advances in technology have ensured an unprecedented increase for data storage. All indications are that this trend is set to continue for the foreseeable future. Maxtec`s management has taken cognisance of this and the business is well positioned to capitalise on it.
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