Buffalo Enters Business Arena
The Japan-based wireless vendor this month launched its first U.S. channel program, part of an increasing reliance on VARs to bring in customers and build brand awareness stateside.
To accomplish that, the company has created a tiered program with increasing up-front discounts based on sales volume. The program also includes training, demo equipment discounts, market development funds and a reseller council, said Erny-Jay Mezas, director of sales at Buffalo Technology, which has U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas.
The company already has some 500 integrators that sell its products in the United States, but it has no formal relationship with them, Mezas said.
Larry Fatheree, CEO of Systech Systems and Services, a Buffalo Technology partner based in Raleigh, N.C., said he already is using the company's wireless products in some small-business projects. "We are increasing our focus on Buffalo because we are impressed with what they have," Fatheree said. "They have a very robust wireless solution that fits very well with what small businesses need."
In an installation at a local warehouse, Buffalo Technology won out over other similarly priced wireless products because it supports multilevel repeating, he said. "We were able to do the job with Buffalo for about $5,000," he said. "The same job with Cisco wireless products would have been $12,000 to $20,000."
In addition to the formal channel program, Buffalo Technology's product line will continue to evolve for solution providers, said Morikazu Sano, vice president of product marketing at the wireless vendor. The company plans to release in the next two quarters products available exclusively through VARs, he said.
Storage will be a major focus of those offerings. Indeed, Buffalo Technology expects U.S. sales of its LinkStation and TeraStation NAS products to jump to $35 million this year from $6.5 million in 2004. "Storage is really hot," Sano said. "The business is growing rapidly."
As it rolls out its channel, Buffalo Technology also is looking to expand the breadth of its partner base. The company is hoping to attract a new class of SMB-focused VARs that can take its higher-end products into businesses with fewer than 100 employees, Sano said. With a terabyte of storage priced at less than $1,000, Buffalo Technology's TeraStation NAS device, already popular with "prosumers," is a natural for small businesses as well, he said. A new version of the product, slated for a January release, will be beefed up with small businesses in mind.
Fatheree said he hasn't seen Buffalo Technology's storage products yet, but given his experience with its wireless products, he plans to test them out.
"I will definitely take a look at their storage products because I am impressed with their technology based on what they've done in wireless," he said. "If that same engineering skill has been put into the NAS product, that is something I want to know about."