Australia’s first cloud-focused distie arrives

"Full service" distributor VADIS Systems has launched with the goal of aggregating cloud services and hardware for SMB and SME resellers.

VADIS has three main areas of focus; cloud services/virtualisation, networking and security.

The distributor was set up by two principals, Sep Setpanian and Gerry Tucker, both who have extensive experience in the channel.

Tucker has worked with vendors in security, contact centres, and ERM/CRM for over 20 years. Stepanian has spent 25 years owning and running managed services and integration businesses.
Tucker said that while there were already several distributors in networking and security, VADIS would tightly knit together the technologies with cloud services.

The distributor has "a very healthy funding footprint", said Tucker, and was part of a group of companies owned by an anonymous shareholder. He said the owner had investments across a range of industries and "saw an opportunity" in distribution.

Tucker said the distributor was considering growth through acquiring other networking and security distributors.

VADIS intended to add value to every level in the channel, from vendor to reseller to end user, said Tucker, VADIS' sales and marketing director. The distributor was designed to act like an extension of a vendor's sales force, he said.

This meant a strong focus on lead generation for end users, with sales people compensated for finding end-user opportunities, said Tucker.

"We want to make it easier for resellers to get new business, especially with a new vendor," said Tucker.

VADIS, which is an acronym of "value added distributor", had "flexible" financing terms to assist customers in paying for technology.

"In today's market, small and medium businesses are struggling to get credit. It doesn't matter which market they're in," said Tucker.

The distributor acted as a point of aggregation for networking, security, virtualisation and cloud services. It planned to bundle technology and services across all four areas with financing terms per bundle.

"The bigger the packages are the more flexible the financing," said Tucker.

First signing

VADIS' first signing, a UK-based private company called ThinkGrid, was a channel-only vendor that offers a range of white-labelled services including virtual desktop, hosted applications such as email and Sharepoint, VoIP and storage to resellers.

Resellers wondering how to get into cloud without significant investment could take on ThinkGrid's services with little commitment, said Tucker.

"This literally allows them to become a cloud provider overnight," he said.

ThinkGrid offers these services with no minimum contract to the end-user and a low minimum requirement based on turnover per month for the reseller.

Customers "no longer need to make upfront CapEx investment in expensive hardware, software and support, and instead can move all IT costs to an easy-to-manage, monthly operational expense," said David Pratt, COO, ThinkGrid, in a press release.

Tucker said that cloud vendors selling to the enterprise could afford to deal directly with resellers. However, the breadth of the SMB and SME market meant a single-tier model might not be as appropriate.

"With SMB and SME you have got volume and a broad range of industries," he said. "That's why ThinkGrid is a good fit for distribution."

Tucker added that not all cloud vendors were suited to a distribution model. "When we're looking at any vendor or a cloud vendor we ask, ‘Can we add value to that particular service?'"

VADIS' headquarters is in Chatswood, Sydney and an office in Victoria was to be opened before the end of the year. The company planned to expand into Queensland and the ACT in Q1 and Q2 next year.

Other vendors signed by VADIS include Box Sentry, Quipa, SlickAccess and PineApp. More major signings were expected next week.