Fujitsu channel grows 274 percent in a year

Fujitsu's local channel manager claimed revenue through partners had almost quadrupled in the past year, as the vendor's World Tour rolled into Sydney.

"In the 12 months [to March], business through the ANZ channel has grown 274 percent," said Daniel Campbell, Fujitsu Australia's channel manager for infrastructure solutions and support.

Speaking to CRN at the Fujitsu World Tour event in Sydney, Campbell said that while he could not disclose the growth in dollar terms, the boom came on the back of the appointment of two new distributors last year – Distribution Central and Dicker Data.

[Related: Fujitsu World Tour rolls into Sydney]

"We've had 241 new partners join us in the same period," said Campbell. He cited Always Up IT, Lookup.com and PSQ Group as some its recently signed resellers, as well as a new agreement with PowerNET that CRN reported earlier this month.

General manager for Fujitsu Product Group, Peter Uher, said that, "starting from scratch" two years ago, 20 percent of the product business is now through the channel. He told CRN that the vendor would like to see Australia match some other western countries that have 60 to 70 percent channel penetration.

"It was only one and a half or two years ago we got serious about the channel," Uher said. "We will serve, say, the top 400 customers with a direct sales force, but we'd like to expand our footprint in Australia through the channel."

Campbell said that Fujitsu has "put significant resources" into channel operations since he joined the company two years ago.

The Japanese multinational vendor demonstrated its cloud capabilities at the Australian stop of its road show by announcing a deal with the NSW Department of Family and Community Services to migrate 27,000 mailboxes to messaging-as-a-service. The NSW government's minister for finance and services Francis Perrottet spoke at the event, as did NSW Businesslink executive Albert Olley.