Synnex Named First U.S. Distributor For Fujitsu Computer Systems

The deal expands on Synnex's relationship with Fujitsu in Canada, according to David Strickland, vice president of product management at Synnex.

"Fujitsu has a great offering of tablets and business-class notebooks. There are certain vertical [markets] where they fit in nicely: medical, government, transportation and education," Strickland said.

Fujitsu previously sold its LifeBook notebooks and Stylistic Tablet PCs directly to solution providers in the United States, according to Synnex.

Fujitsu started talking internally about a distribution model roughly nine months ago, and it plans to keep direct relationships with its larger resellers and will transfer the accounts of lower-volume resellers to Synnex, said Bill King, executive vice president of sales at Fujitsu Computer Systems.

"In our model, we provide direct support and direct access to Fujitsu people to our largest customers. There's clear value in that," King said. "The more low-volume, transactional-type accounts made more sense to go through Synnex. We have a limited [amount] of channel development people in the field, and this allows us to focus on more higher-value partners."

Fujitsu may look at additional distributors at a later date, King added. "We'll continue to reevaluate our channels, but initially we want to see how [Synnex] works for us," he said.

Synnex's success in Canada and its small- and midsize-business customer base helped the distributor win over Fujitsu for the U.S. market, Strickland said.

"We have put a lot of emphasis over the last year in our [Technology Solutions Division] and growing solutions distribution. Now we are able to offer multiple vendors that fit anyone's requirements," he said. "Ultimately, the reseller helps determine what fits the [end users'] needs best. The more quality products we can bring on, the better."

Fujitsu aims to increase its North American business from $3.5 billion to $10 billion by 2010 and believes an increased channel presence will help the company meet that goal, according to King.

"We couldn't continue that with the business model we have now. This [Synnex deal] is the first part of the extension of that. Synnex gets us to their reseller network and a broader reach in SMB," King said. "We've been strong traditionally in health care, and this is a further expansion of that. They've got over 2,000 health-care channel partners in their network. They're also very strong in the education space, where we have not had a concerted focus."

Synnex has organized a comprehensive training initiative around the Fujitsu products, including a Web seminar and face-to-face sessions. "You will need to be authorized to buy the product. You really can't be successful with a product like this unless you understand the product," Strickland said.

The distributor plans to introduce Fujitsu to new solution providers but also will take on many reseller accounts that used to buy directly from the vendor, he added. "The obvious goal is incremental business. Their product offering will fit very small [business] up to the enterprise," he said.

Fujitsu joins a growing list of vendors recently choosing to expand their channel sales through distributors. D&H Distributing this week said it would distribute Lenovo systems, and Panasonic Computer Solutions recently authorized Tech Data and Synnex to sell its Toughbook PCs to VARs serving federal government customers. Also, Trend Micro recently added Westcon Group to carry its security solutions, and Access Distribution took on Avaya's full product and Global Services offerings.