Kevin Hartin heads up Altech's marketing

Previously, Kevin Hartin held the role of national sales manager at Altech, before leaving to join Nvidia’s as local channel manager in January 2007. Once Hartin’s contract with Nvidia ended in December 2007, he didn’t have any ambitions to return to Altech.

“When the contract with Nvidia finished I wanted to keep my options open. I didn’t necessarily have ambitions to come back to Altech. But Anthony Sheen – managing director at Altech - sat down with me and made me a very good offer,” said Hartin.

Hartin said it was originally planned for him to come back on a ‘special project’ basis, which included the setting up of Altech’s first New Zealand branch.

“The whole special project thing only lasts for so long. When the previous national sales manager left the company and with my previous Altech background, it was the right place at the right time, to accept the position," he said.

During his year away from the company, Hartin told CRN that Altech has certainly changed a bit. “The company’s gotten 30 percent bigger, with the addition of an office in NZ and an impending addition in Adelaide – which steps things up.”

According to Hartin, Altech’s appointment by Microsoft as a distributor has changed a few attitudes, with the distributor a lot more focused on product management.

“That focus was something we started to toy with when I was leaving. There have also been internal structural changes and a change of accounting system to SAP,” he said.

Hartin claims things are run differently now, which is a, “good indication that Altech is maturing. It was an adolescent when I left and now I have come back to a strapping young adult.”

Altech also recently signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Gigabyte subsidiary, Gigazone. Altech will now have distribution rights to Gigazone's full range of power supplies, chassis and coolers.