Tech Data Adds Apple Rack Vendor

Tech Data is GizMac's first distribution partner, and the Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor will sell the entire line of XRackPro rack-mount cabinets for Apple Xserve servers and RAID storage devices. The cabinet line is designed to reduce noise by up to 80 percent over standard racks in environments where customers lack separate data centers, such as small offices, classrooms and corporate creative departments.

The GizMac products will be sold and supported by Tech Data's AppleAdvantage SBU, but they are compatible with servers from other vendors, including Hewlett-Packard and IBM.

Tech Data said GizMac's 4U, 6U, 12U and 25U XRackPro cabinets fill a hole in its offerings for Apple VARs.

"We didn't have an Apple specialist for racks on our line card. We've had the business unit for just over a year now, and as we see the right opportunities we've been adding new business partners to our product lineup to make sure we're servicing our Apple specialized customers the best that we can," said Brian Davis, vice president of client systems product marketing at Tech Data.

For GizMac, the partnership with Tech Data will bring its Apple-centric products to a new class of resellers: non-Apple VARs.

"Tech Data has one of the best Apple channels, and the roots of the XRack are with Apple. We also know that we wanted to expand into the non-Apple market," said Ken Vitto, director of marketing at GizMac, Torrence, Calif. "With Tech Data being strong in Apple as well as non-Apple, it made sense."

For Tech Data, the Apple market is going strong, and GizMac's racks will help VARs driving business solutions, according to Davis.

"There is a very broad desire for Apple products now, probably more driven by the iPod than anything else," he said. "When you look at [Apple's] partnership with Intel, there are a lot more people out there writing applications for Apple products than there would have been prior to their partnership with Intel. There's no doubt that Apple is here to stay."