Seagate Flies SOLO

The update is dubbed Simple Online Ordering (SOLO). It was developed in conjunction with Comergent and is slated to be unveiled this week.

SOLO and my.Seagate are intended for Seagate's distributors and OEM partners, said Jay Remley, director of e-business for the sales and marketing group at Seagate. It provides them with a window into the status of pending orders.

CLOSE TIES: SEAGATE AND COMERGENT

>> FEBRUARY 2002: Launch of Simple Online Ordering (SOLO) and my.Seagate portal for OEMs and distributors.
>> JULY 2001: Special pricing authorization offered to large OEMs, which Seagate says generate three-quarters of its business.
>> JULY 2000: Launch of Seagate Reseller Marketplace, which gives resellers price quotes, inventory views on distributors' sites.

Adam Zorlen, Tech Data's asset manager for the Seagate product line, said he was trained on the new application in a matter of hours.

"I can find [a purchase order's estimated time of arrival and where it is in transit," he said.

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Remley said Seagate, Scotts Valley, is studying ways to improve its resellers' productivity, including giving them access to the online ordering application. But he said there are no immediate plans to do so.

Since "we have more influence with the OEMs and distributors," Remley said SOLO is currently aimed squarely at that customer segment.

Comergent CTO Bill York said SOLO simplifies the entire order-management process. Comergent's channel-sales management software helps high-tech firms gain efficiencies associated with ordering products online without alienating traditional sales channels, he said. Comergent, Redwood City, Calif., began its Seagate relationship almost two years ago.

Seagate has taken pains not to put its channel on the defensive with its e-commerce initiatives. For example, customers in Seagate's Reseller Marketplace--which Comergent and Seagate unveiled in 2000--are actually pulling pricing and availability information from distributors' Web sites, Remley said.