Samsung SDS's messaging server platform, Samsung Contact, is being launched in SA for the first time, in its eighth version. This alternative to other messaging platforms, such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes, opens up channel opportunities to local integrators.
Samsung SDS's exclusive South African representative is Datrix, a company that has been around since 1995, and has its roots in software development. MD Wayne Smith says the company has acted as reseller of Contact 8.0 to end-users since mid-2002. "We are now looking to act as distributor instead, and will consider approaches from resellers with a captive corporate customer base."
Channel conflict will be avoided as Datrix moves solely into distribution of the software, surrendering its corporate-facing sales, as and when its reseller channel takes off. This is expected to happen within six months.
There is no formal certification programme yet, but Smith adds that sales and technical training on the product will be given. "We will run a formal course which won't cost the reseller anything," he says.
The product is based on Hewlett-Packard's OpenMail technology, for which Samsung SDS has signed "perpetual licensing" rights, after discontinuation by HP. "It's anyone's guess why it was discontinued," says Smith. "It remains a low-cost, flexible and scalable alternative to licensing regimes that require regular updates and operating architecture changes."
Why should you rush to join another mail server's bandwagon? For one, Smith points out, Microsoft Exchange 5.5, a widely used mail server, is being shelved. Microsoft only recently relented, changing the end-of-support date to the end of 2004, but this leaves customers with the problem of whether to upgrade to Windows 2000, or the next incarnation, due out this year, when Exchange is perceived to still meet their needs.
Instead, they can choose an alternative like Samsung Contact 8.0, a scalable platform that runs on various Unix versions, Linux and Windows. This platform independence partially accounts for the product's cost-effectiveness. Total cost of ownership is about half that of other solutions, according to a report by Ferris Research (August 2002).
Customers can bypass restrictive licensing regimes by running Samsung's server platform, which Smith says coexists with, for instance, MS Exchange and stick with their current mail clients, in which case Samsung will charge a support fee per mailbox. Or they can install any mailbox, including Samsung's own, as the server is compatible with all Internet standards-based clients. The product provides a unified messaging store, making faxes, e-mails and voicemails accessible via any one of a variety of devices (Web device, PC or phone).
Retail cost is about R700 per mailbox, with as many free servers as the customer needs. On top of this, resellers can sell support contracts, especially since some customers will prefer to stick with current mail clients and just migrate the server.
Visit www.samsungcontact.com.
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