At a technology show held at Monte Casino in Fourways, Sahara, Intel and Samsung, three giants in the IT industry, made various announcements as well as showcased new technologies.
Atul Gupta, MD of Sahara, says end-users and customers will welcome the announcements made at the show, including Sahara's appointment as an Intel Premier Provider which will provide Sahara with greater access to Intel's product forecast. With this appointment, Sahara Computers will have greater access to Intel's product roadmap, business strategies and insights, thereby enabling it to build its brand name further in the local and sub-Saharan markets.
Says Calum Chisholm, Reseller Channel Manager for Intel sub-Sahara Africa: "I am personally very excited about working together with Sahara. We have been growing the relationship for the past year and have developed a number of great initiatives going forward both in SA as well as expanding into the whole of sub-Saharan Africa."
"As an Intel Premier Provider, Sahara now has a personal link with Intel," says Danie Steyn, Strategic Account Manager for Intel sub-Saharan Africa. "Among the many benefits is priority 24/7 technical support for the Intel Server Product, providing Sahara with leverage for expansion in the business IT market space."
Intel Premier Providers represent the very best of the Intel channel programme, enjoying an enhanced relationship with Intel, which offers increased visibility in a competitive marketplace. In addition, this exclusive program also offers a variety of additional benefits including early information about products and events, powerful marketing tools, technical support and training opportunities.
Sahara will also have access to the Intel Solutions Summit, where the company will be able to work with top Intel executives and other Intel Premier Providers to expand business opportunities and extend their knowledge of emerging products, solutions and strategies. The summit includes keynote speeches, workshops and a solutions showcase which highlights many of the best new technologies from Intel and leading third-party vendors.
Adds Steyn: "We are in the process of training all the sales and technical staff at Sahara on the latest and greatest products that Intel offers and will also hold reseller workshops and marketing initiatives with Sahara. This combination of Intel, the fifth biggest brand in the world, and Sahara, the fastest growing PC brand in SA, will ensure that both companies reap the benefits of the dynamic African IT market."
The second major announcement made at the show is that Sahara has been named as the sole distributor of the Samsung range of laser printers. Gupta says that although Sahara has long been responsible for selling Samsung products such as optical disk drives (ODD), monitors and printers, the company will now be the sole distributor of the Samsung laser printer range.
"Although Samsung already distributes to the retail sector, and Sahara has been officially distributing its products for over a year now, Sahara has proven its worth by growing Samsung's printer market share significantly," Gupta adds.
"With Sahara being sole distributor of Samsung laser printers and its continued focus through its established dealer base into the SMB/SME market, we expect to grow out unit value and overall market share," says Ben Poulsen, division head for office automation products at Samsung South Africa.
Two Samsung printers, the ML1510 and the ML1710, are currently in the limelight as they appear in the Matrix Reloaded and in the very visible marketing campaign that supports it.
Gupta concludes: "Our relationships with vendors like Samsung and Intel have developed into healthy partnerships over the past few years and these announcements enable us assure our valued customers of a definite enhancement to both the range of products available to them as well as the levels of service that they're already used to."
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Sahara Computers locally assembles and markets the Sahara-branded PC via the reseller channel and, with its best of breed components, was the winner of CRN SA's Outlook 2002 "Components Distributor of the Year Award".
Sahara has branches in Midland (head office), Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, with partners throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Sahara is the official distributor and OEM for a variety of international vendors including: Asus, AMD, Creative, Delta, Epson, Intel, Lexmark, Maxtor, Microsoft, Samsung, SMC Networks and Symantec.
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