New delivery service partner for Microsoft South Africa

Microsoft has appointed Siltek Distribution Dynamics (SDD) as a Delivery Service Partner (DSP), effective from 1 January 1999. This brings the number of local Microsoft DSPs to three, the other two being Datatec and Mustek.

DSPs are responsible for distributing Microsoft OEM software to the builders of computer systems. This is the fastest growing sector of business for Microsoft worldwide and was the single biggest customer for the company last year.

"SDD is one of the biggest broad-based distributors in South Africa. Add a stable, ever-expanding system builder customer base to this, and the value they bring to Microsoft`s business model is obvious," says Garry Hodgson, Microsoft OEM Director for Africa and Indian Ocean Islands. "It`s not just Microsoft and SDD that benefit from this appointment. The increased competition in the DSP market is good news for system builders, typically small businesses, who now have a greater choice of distributors."

Rob Matthews, managing director, Siltek Distribution Dynamics adds: "SDD is one of the largest specialist groups in the Information Technology supply chain in sub-Saharan Africa. Having worked as a Microsoft sub-DSP for quite some time, we predict that this new appointment will enable us to further expand our customer base."

The system builder sector tends to have the highest incidence of software piracy, an issue which costs the South African economy over R500 million a year in lost revenues. "We hope that the appointment of another DSP will help alleviate this problem by giving system builders more competitively priced products due to greater competition, and another channel member committed to reducing the piracy statistics," concludes Hodgson.