Australian distributor launches new division and signs NetApp

This is the fifth specialised business unit for Distribution Central and has been formed after strong growth in the existing security, infrastructure, voice messaging and training divisions.

Network Appliance (NetApp), has signed on with the newly formed storage division and ended their previous partnerships with both LAN 1 and Avnet.

Passionate about the divided business model, Scott Frew CEO of Distribution Central explained that it reflects the different reseller partners in the channel and provides the level of support they need offering a multitude of services.

“We are the only distributor with engineers on board that can do the presales design work and if something goes wrong - there is someone to call. All of the other distributors will push it up to a vendor or they aren’t interested in looking after that post sales component. We’ve got reps that have expertise in each particular segment and engineering resources backing them up,” said Frew.

Discussing the decision to part ways with their previous distributors and sign with SAN, Peter O’Connor, managing director for NetApp Australia said the company only wants a single distributor in Australia. “The primary reason we chose SAN Systems is because their values and strategy are in line with those of NetApp. We both have a strong customer focus and are committed to ensuring we provide the best possible solutions for our clients’ needs,” he explained.

“The SAN Systems team has an excellent understanding of the technology market, a very strong footprint in the local channel space and offers partners a true value-added service – all key factors in our decision-making process,” he said.

The vendor has strong existing tier one partnerships as well as StoreVault, a division aimed at tier two partners in the small to medium landscape. NetApp launched StoreVault in February this year and is looking to increase the number of resellers they partner with, this will be a joint project with their new distributor.

“SAN Systems and NetApp both have their respective goals in how quickly they want to grow and the targets to make. Between the two of us we will work out exactly what the strategies are for recruitment and will be investing our time and resources into making them hugely successful with our product…We’ll be starting straight away and out educating the market over the next six months,” added O’Connor.

Acronis has also been signed to the SAN Systems division and announcements are expected to be made in the future about additional vendor partnerships.

australian data centre distribution distributor division netapp new servers & storage