Thanks To Vendor And VAR, One Small Biz Is Cured Of Its Big Storage Challenges

backup

As the self-proclaimed "IT department" at the Missouri Veterans Home, Mt. Vernon, Mo., for eight years, Duncan realized he had to make things easier.

"Before, we had tape drives, servers and daily backups. It required more [from me]," Duncan said. He needed an automated, all-in-one solution that would "require less hands-on" involvement, which led him to Computer Peripherals.

"They asked how much data I backed up on a daily basis and a few other questions," Duncan said. "I wanted something that was hassle-free and expandable."

A StorServer channel partner for the past three years and with 65 percent of its customers qualifying as small businesses, Computer Peripherals knew the appliance was an ideal match for Duncan.

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"It met their needs perfectly," said Darren McLaws, vice president at the Mesa, Ariz.-based reseller. "It provided complete automation, was hands-off, and before, they had a single-cartridge tape drive and now they have a disk solution that offloads to tape." Computer Peripherals' solution also allows Duncan to take the stored data off-site, if necessary.

"I purchased the appliance based on the fact that their recommendation met all of my requests, and more," Duncan added.

Although Computer Peripherals' main focus has been storage and data interchange, the licensing and support offered by StorServer are what made it such an attractive channel partner to McLaws. "Their channel program has really good, excellent support," he said. "The inside sales reps and engineers give excellent pre- and post-sales support."

With 100 percent of its sales through the channel, StorServer, Colorado Springs, Colo., invests a lot in its partners' success.

"We have a very comprehensive program to ensure our partners are successful," said Ellen Rome, vice president of sales and marketing at StorServer. "We have a registration program to protect margins, a partner Web site—everything a reseller needs."

"They also have a great policy wherein they review all quotes to end users to assure the configuration is technologically correct," McLaws added.

The optimal customer for StorServer's partners is the small business, Rome said. "We provide a very basic, very simple appliance to the end user. Our focus is the SMB market, and we look for resellers who know how to sell the solution then they make margins on our service and support."

In its entirety, the Missouri Veterans project took approximately four months to complete and cost about $11,000. The initial solution included tape cartridges, an autoloader, a StorServer appliance, licensing and support for one year.