Sun expands distribution deal with Tech Data

Sun Microsystems Inc. will greatly enhance the number of products and services it sells in the U.S. through PC distributor Tech Data Corp. on Monday, in an effort to expand its reach into medium-sized companies.

Tech Data is already a channel for Sun’s Cobalt server appliances, but under the expanded arrangement, the $16 billion reseller will also sell Sun’s LX50, Sun Fire V60x and V65x, V210 and V240 systems as well as a variety of storage and software products.

The relationship will primarily help Sun to sell into companies with 99 to 1,000 employees, said the director of Sun’s iForce Program Office, Bill Cate. “We’re expanding what had been a very limited relationship with Tech Data to help us go and become much more effective in the mid-market,” he said

With its revenues shrinking, Sun is eager to address a market segment that it may not have considered lucrative enough to merit its attention a few years ago, analysts said.

“Everybody’s talking about the mid-market these days, because they’re seeing more growth there than is in the enterprise,” said Illuminata Inc. analyst Gordon Haff.

The two companies are also creating two new Sun reseller programs, which will be available to Tech Data’s network of 100,000 resellers. “Registered Volume Resellers” will not have to pay fees or pass certification tests, but will be able to sell Sun’s Intel servers and storage hardware. “Authorized Volume Reseller” status will be available to certified resellers who want access to Sun’s iForce Partner Program. They will have access to a broader range of products, including Sun’s V210 and V240 servers.

Sun will have to work hard at providing simpler, more integrated products in order to succeed with mid-market customers, Haff said. “Sun is going to need to have a lot more than just products,” he said. “Sun certainly has the capacity to put together mid-market solutions, but it’s a fairly long distance from where they’ve been traditionally,” he added.

Sun is not pursuing any other mid-market reseller relationships in the U.S., said Cate. “We think that in the U.S., Tech Data can get us to the mid-market.”

Sun plans to announce a number of new mid-market distributor relationships outside the U.S., the company said.