Samsung appoints XON as first VAR for corporate, government markets

XON, one of South Africa's fastest growing black-empowered ICT companies, has become the first Samsung value-added reseller (VAR) in South Africa to take the electronics giant's monitors, printers, notebooks and peripherals into the corporate and government markets.

Samsung has traditionally been strong in the South African retail market and has successfully penetrated the corporate market with its monitors.

“We want to partner with the best technology vendors in the market so as to continue with one of XON's primary differentiators: providing value through technology and support,” says Deon Prinsloo, divisional head of XON Hardware.

“We are already strong in the government market, which represents 60% of our revenue stream, and we are the primary supplier on a number of government and SITA contracts. We are confident that we can build on that with Samsung,” says Carel Coetzee, CEO of XON.

Piers Proctor, printer manager at Samsung Electronics, says: “We are looking for key resellers and XON is a premium reseller that we've been lucky enough to partner with. They have the infrastructure and support services to take our business-to-business products into the corporate and government markets, which is where we see the majority of our growth coming from. XON can provide all the necessary backup, support and other services required to underpin the brand in South Africa.”

One of the key differentiators for XON and Samsung in the printer field will be Samsung's ability to produce printers at a lower cost than its competition. Samsung has been seriously engaged in the market for the past three years.

“Samsung's expertise is in manufacturing, and it invests a great deal in R&D, which is where it derives its cost benefits, and it sees enormous opportunity and potential in the printer market,” says Proctor.

Samsung secured the second highest number of patents for global technology companies in 2007, registering almost 3 000 for the year, and was one of only five companies in the top 25 to increase the number of patents secured over 2006.

There are a number of notable products in the Samsung range that XON will bring to the corporate and government markets.

“Samsung laptop products are high quality, use advanced technologies such as solid state storage, and are made of materials such as polypropylene and carbon fibre, which make the systems exceptionally durable and lightweight, with one model weighing just 1.2 kilograms,” says Prinsloo. “Samsung was also first to market with an ultra-portable projector that weighs just 900 grams, so the combination creates a mobile presentation solution that weighs just two kilograms. The cost benefits of Samsung's manufacturing processes are brought to bear on all its product lines, and we can bring the projector to market for just R5 500.”

“In South Africa, we have a broad range of notebooks appealing to many end-user markets, from mini notebooks to powerhouse desktop replacement solutions,” says Gavin Slevin, notebook business manager for Samsung. “The systems come standard with several features, including HDMI and multimedia capabilities, card readers, DVD-RWs and all the usual ports you would expect from a class-leading system.”

The X Series systems also feature LED backlit screens, giving the notebooks superior usability and battery life.

XON has begun marketing the Samsung range to government departments. “The departments that we have spoken to in the past two months have expressed significant interest in the range,” says Prinsloo.

XON has already placed its first orders for Samsung notebooks and printers. XON expects its hardware business to double revenue figures in the next 12 months partially on the back of the Samsung announcement.