Sun Beefs Up
European Storage
Presence with
New Master
Reseller in the UK
PALO ALTO, Calif.-- Continuing to deliver
on its promise of aggressively growing its storage business,
Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced it has expanded its
European channel organization and appointed Storm as its
newest Master Reseller. Storm is the UK's leading storage
distributor, providing solutions for open-platform
environments--including the SolarisTM operating environment,
MVS, UNIX and NT--by offering an extensive portfolio of
products from the world's leading manufacturers. The
agreement with Storm will enable Sun to actively expand its
direct and indirect storage channels by aligning a completely
new sales force, which is dedicated to storage and targeted
on heterogeneous accounts, with its existing sales force and
storage specialists.
"Sun is forging the right channel relationships to ensure
the
success of its storage products on heterogeneous platforms."
said Janet Waxman, Program Director, Systems and Storage
Distribution Channels at International Data Corporation.
"With its expertise in the heterogeneous storage market,
Storm will help propel Sun towards its aggressive storage
growth goals."
"We are looking forward to working with Sun as the Storage
Master Reseller here in the UK. We see Sun as the first
vendor to fully deliver a comprehensive, intelligent network
vision and strategy for enterprise storage, and to be an
integral part of that strategy is very exciting," said
Philip
Wade, Marketing Director of Storm. "Storm is totally focused
on storage and will lead on data management, security and
integrity. We also intend to work closely with TPLC
(Technology PLC, Systems Master Reseller for Sun) in order
to leverage the Sun StorEdgeTM technology into new areas."
Following a review of its distribution needs, Sun evaluated
a
number of potential storage resellers in the UK. The decision
to move forward with Storm was based on Storm's
experience, strong support offerings for the heterogeneous
market and its marketing approach. Storm has extensive
facilities both in Leeds and London, incorporating a
technology suite that will enable Sun corporate customers to
review Sun StorEdge products on a variety of platforms.
"Sun plans to double the size of its storage business by
2001, with more than one-third of that business on
heterogeneous platforms. In order to meet our goal, we're
actively expanding both the company's direct and indirect
sales channels," said Jeffrey Allen, Sun's senior director
of
marketing and business strategy for network storage.
"Storm's extensive knowledge, expertise and track record
in
the storage industry, especially in the heterogeneous market,
make them a valuable addition to the Sun team."
Sun's Storage Momentum
According to IDC, Sun is the number one UNIX multi-user
disk subsystem vendor in the world. Currently, Sun has more
than 4000 terabytes (TB) of high-end RAID installed
worldwide--the equivalent of one trillion pages of text or 80
million four-drawer filing cabinets--with eight TB being
installed every day. With the multi-user storage market
expected by analysts to reach $36 billion by the year 2001,
Sun is making substantial, long-term investments to build a
broad, integrated family of open enterprise storage systems.
Sun is going beyond traditional storage solutions with its
Intelligent Storage NetworkTM architecture, as well as a broad
range of enterprise products which are key to transforming
the Intelligent Storage Network vision into reality.
About Sun Microsystems,
Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular
vision, "The Network Is
The ComputerTM," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc.
(NASDAQ: SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of
high-quality hardware, software, and services for establishing
enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the
Internet. With more than $9.5 billion in annual revenues, Sun
can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World
Wide Web at http://sun.com. @Macarlo, Inc. @Macarlo's Shareware & Web OS/2 Java Lobby Member
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