Who's Keeping An Eye On The SMB Wallet?
"There is a huge need for the right solution from the integrator. But they need to first educate themselves and really understand technology and different applications," said Ali Asvadi, president of Variel Technology, Irvine, Calif.
Variel categorizes itself as an emerging OEM company that creates its own branded solutions and sells both direct and through the channel. Since 2003, Variel has morphed itself into a custom storage configurator.
"We consult and have a services background," according to Asvadi, "but SMBs need expertise with products." Their budget requirements also demand the "right" solutions and technologiesnot just off-the-shelf offerings, he added. "There's a lot of understanding and knowing that is a requirement and need of SMBs."
Enter Adaptec, a Milpitas, Calif.-based storage vendor. Education is an integral part of Variel's burgeoning partnership with the vendor, Asvadi said. In addition to financial incentives and marketing tools, Adaptec's channel program focuses on comprehensive technical training and certification.
Part of this training involves providing VARs with access to online forums and its online SAS Education Center, all of which offer information on storage-related issues to complement VARs' service offerings.
Adaptec also helps add to the "right" solution with both the expandability and flexibility of its products, Asvadi said.
Boosting the trend toward storage services is the need for the long-term storage of surveillance data. Ten-year Adaptec channel partner Izon Technologies develops surveillance software and hardware productsincluding high-performance network video recorders, digital video recorders, network and analog CCD camerasfor clients ranging from small homes to casinos.
Jim Hatch, CTO of Norwood, Mass.-based Izon, said the growing interest in this niche is due to the expansive time-frame requirements on data storage. Adaptec offers a perfect productOnTarget 3.0to satisfy that need, he said.
"People want to store video for very long periods of time, and the initial storage arrays are so large," Hatch said. "With Adaptec, you can mirror [SANs] together, and with OnTarget 3.0, it especially works well with smaller jobs." "Right now, the savings for the end customer [with] today's technology and storagethere's so much bang for the buck," Hatch said.
According to the vendor, once OnTarget is installed on a server, it is automatically configured as a storage device. The reason this product is a match made in heaven for SMBs is that when a business' storage is upgraded with the product, it transforms the old server into one that offers IP SAN storage for digital surveillance and direct-attached storage (DAS), all from one easily managed interface.
After the install, when the true profits come into play, Adaptec partner Quail Technologies said it's the ongoing technical assistance from the storage vendor that helps the company along.
"One great thing about Adaptec, it's mostly plug and play and not a lot of configuration," said Mark Spear, vice president and co-founder of Quail, a San Mateo, Calif.-based integrator that does 80 percent of its business in the SMB sector.
After the initial install and during Quail's ongoing services, "If an end user asks questions, we can answer eight or 10. [If we can't], we get a lot of great support from the vendor," Spear added.
After noting very little reseller representation of Linux, Quail has nestled itself into selling Linux-based solutions, which was what originally led the company to Adaptec. Quail has experienced 60 percent growth each quarter since its founding approximately 18 months ago. Quail has also grown from two to nine personnel.
"We normally look at ourself as a Linux VAR. We believe there is a huge niche in the Linux space that isn't being covered by a lot of resellers," Hatch said. "A lot of tier one VARs are mostly stuck in Unix, Solaris."
Besides the Linux factor, Spear cites Adaptec's training as one of the driving forces for Quail's success. "[Adaptec] takes our company by ourselves and offers classroom training. They actually come to our facility, we get specific classes it absolutely helped business."