Storage Distributor TidalWire Launches Extranet

TidalWire

The Tsunami Partnership Program consists of three levels, and solution provider participation depends on revenue activity and the mix of products purchased from TidalWire, said Jeff Brandies, president and CEO of the company.

Qualified partners will have access to Tsunami's Partner Connection Extranet, a private, password-protected site that enables them to see their specific pricing, place orders and check inventories, Brandies said.

The extranet was quietly launched last fall to a limited number of partners, but is now being formally rolled out. One benefit of the extranet is that solution providers that place orders for host-bus adapters online receive price discounts, he said.

Tsunami partners will also be eligible for preferred pricing discounts and rebates, depending on the level of activity, Brandies said. "We will have quarterly and yearly rebates for those who overachieve," he said.

Solution providers will also be eligible for marketing opportunities such as banner advertisements on the company's Storage Connection Web site, which receives about 100,000 page views per month from corporate users and vendors looking for storage information, Brandies said. They will also be able to publish articles for the portal, as well as sponsor newsletters and white papers, he said.

TidalWire's primary competitor is Bell Micro, which Brandies admitted offers a more complete storage product line card.

"We focus on midlevel to high-level storage networking, mainly in the EMC Symmetrix and Clariion space," he said. "But we don't sell arrays. We feel that by focusing on storage networking, we really understand the products and possible configurations and can offer more value than someone on the phone offering only products and price."