Rising Star For Whitebox Builders

Company:

Headquarters: City of Industry, Calif.

Technology Sector: Hardware

Key Product: Mini Redundant Power Supply

Year Founded: 2002 (U.S. operations)

Number of Channel Partners: 100-plus in the U.S.

Ideal Channel Partner: SMB-focused solution providers

Why You Should Care: iStarUSA has a host of customizable hardware components and storage offerings for whitebox builders and system integrators, and the company prides itself on being flexible enough to work with partners large and small.

The Lowdown: For a company that partners with aerospace giants like Lockheed Martin and NASA, iStarUSA is surprisingly down to earth. The maker of power supplies, industrial server chassis, cabinets and storage products has a "no order too small" philosophy and prides itself on being flexible enough to meet any customer's needs.

"Our mission is to offer the most customizable and flexible hardware solutions combined with above-par service and support to our channel partners," said Joseph Joa, iStarUSA's channel sales manager.

The company got its start in Taiwan as a fabricator of sheet metal several decades ago, then moved into manufacturing computer chassis and power supplies. More recently, iStarUSA began making cabinets and storage systems, while also opening its U.S. operations in southern California.

It's difficult to pin down just one of this component maker's products as its key channel offering -- iStarUSA has about 500 different products for sale -- but Joa singles out the company's Mini Redundant Power Supply as a partner favorite.

These units feature two or even three modules for redundancy in the event of a failure, making them attractive to partners building mission-critical solutions for the data center. Joa points to banking and surveillance installations as particularly good fits.

The company's easy-going, open-door engagements with channel partners have served it well to date, Joa said, but iStarUSA is planning to roll out a more systematic program for the channel before the year is out. That program, currently being vetted with distribution partners like Synnex, Ingram Micro and D&H will "combine training, instant rebates, spiffs and on-site visits" for system builders and system integrators, he said.

The company has also taken an aggressive approach to coping with the economic downturn, said Kevin Wang, vice president of product management. Where other companies may be cutting costs for research, iStarUSA is doubling up, he said.

"Our strategy [for the recession] lies with our investment in our R&D for products and services to meet the current and future technology trends," Wang said. "We're continuing to invest in technology and in our engineering team, because that's how we find ways to provide better products and services for our customers."

In addition to its power supplies, channel-friendly offerings from iStarUSA include entry-level to mid-level industrial server chassis, a small number of desktop enclosures and customizable storage towers with a full menu of interface and hard drive choices.