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02.14.06
Sun's
Irritated The StorageTek VARs
 By
John Stith
Sun Microsystems is shuffling around some things around the StorageTek division
by switching from Bell Microproducts to Arrow Electronics' MOCA division to move
its product.
Effective on February 1, the agreement with StorageTek enables MOCA's enterprise
reseller partners to implement information lifecycle management strategies for
their customers through StorageTek's full line of products and solutions designed
to protect and manage business-critical information. To support the new line and
drive sales, Arrow will add incremental business development, sales, and marketing
resources.
"This partnership brings significant opportunities to MOCA's
partners and strengthens their ability to sell storage off the Sun platform,"
said Kevin Powell, vice president, business development, Arrow
Enterprise Computing Solutions.
"Sun and StorageTek are honored
to have Arrow's MOCA division join our Sun StorageTek partner community," said
Mark Miller, senior manager, Storage Distribution Sales, Sun
Microsystems. "With our proven expertise in the storage market and Arrow's
experience as a global distributor, we are able to deepen our commitment to this
growing market."
The big beef for many of the VARs comes from the MOCA's inexperience dealing with
StorageTek products. Critics charge Sun's not paying attention to their channels
and it could hurt them.
CRN quoted Mark Graham of Indianapolis-based Network Storage, "We buy StorageTek
from Avnet because MOCA doesn't know StorageTek. They do high-end servers. I give
Sun credit for sticking it out there and saying it's black and white, but they're
making a mistake if they don't consider where people buy from. There are more
reasons to do business with a distributor than that they carry a product line.
It's not easy for a business to switch distributors."
While MOCA has made assurances this won't change the quality of service, if they
are unfamiliar with the products, then one can only expect a lapse in service,
at least for a little while.
About the Author:
John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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