Bad publicity
It’s interesting to see Technology Europe (see story below) taking legal action against Fujitsu over its failing drives, particularly when the vendor has settled a US class action on an out of court basis, as well as taking action against its control chip supplier over what appears to be the same issue. The case is also likely to be settled on an out-of-court basis in the UK, resulting in all parties’ lips being sealed on the outcome, but the case has attracted widespread attention in the IT press and has undoubtedly attracted a lot of bad publicity for Fujitsu.
What I find amazing is the fact that Fujitsu has apparently allowed he case to get this far.
Surely its’ support/returns managers must have realised that, if they didn’t deal with reseller returns effectively, then legal action and bad publicity would be the result?
Negative publicity is not just bad for the vendor on its own - it can be bad for the entire IT industry.
Reseller sues over Fujitsu hard drives
Technology Europe, a Bournemouth reseller, has taken the unusual step of taking legal action against Fujitsu over its MPG3xx series of hard drives.
According to UK media reports, the firm purchased around 350 of the drives between 2001 and 2002 for installation on PC systems it sold on to third parties. Ben Baker, the reseller’s director, says the drives have been failing at a higher-than-expected rate, but Fujitsu denied there was a problem and was less than helpful when it came to accepting the dead drives back for replacement.
When Fujitsu denied a credit for around half of the returned drives, claiming the edge connectors were damaged, Technology Europe asked for the drives back, only to be told they had been destroyed.
The reseller said it then started to send Fujitsu photographic evidence that the drives were not damaged when they were sent in, but Fujitsu is then alleged to have started losing paperwork. It was at this stage that the company decided to take legal action through a firm of solicitors on a no-win, no-fee basis. Baker is quoted in Interface, the newsletter of the Personal Computer Association (PCA), a lobby group for resellers, as saying that Fujitsu lose the paperwork sent with with drives and then lose the replacement paperwork.
The PCA is said to have lobbied Fujitsu over hard drive problems experienced by its members, and discovered that Fujitsu took legal action against Cirrus Logic back in 2001 over control chips causing problems on its drives.
Interestingly, the PCA says that Fujitsu settled a US class action suit over the drives with a $42.5 million out-of-court payment.
Computer 2000 prepares PC sales surge
Computer 2000 (the UK distribution arm of Tech Data) says that resellers are about to experience a surge in PC sales - and, of course, it wants to help resellers prepare for this.
The distributor says that sales of a number of key PC and laptop ranges have reached new heights over the last quarter as an economic recovery has brought both corporate and smaller businesses back into the PC sales marketplace.
During the three months ending in August, Computer 2000 says it saw record sales of Fujitsu Siemens Computers, IBM and Acer ranges.
Overall PC sales, says the distributor, were up 40 per cent year-on-year during August, which is normally a quiet month when everyone is away on their holidays.
David Watts, Computer 2000’s general manager of PC sales, said it isn’t just the renewed buoyancy of the market that is driving sales upwards. ‘We’ve been working hard to drive standards and support and we believe that we are now well ahead of the competition in terms of service delivery in the PC market. We can be quick and nimble and give every single enquiry the attention and focus that it merits.’ According to Watts, significant investments have been made by the company in its account management systems. The distributor, he said, has been working closely with all its vendors on their strategic programmes.
At the start of the year, for example, Computer 2000 says it engaged with IBM on the vendor’s TopSeller scheme and since then has seen a 500 per cent increase in its volume of IBM sales. August was a record month for IBM sales at the company. Watts said that his company has also worked closely with Acer to continue the vendor’s focus on the small-to-mid-sized enterprise (SME) marketplace.
‘Acer has such an excellent and broad-reaching range and we have the stock-holding capability to meet the needs of its resellers - that is especially important when deals need to be closed quickly, as is often the case in the SME market," Watts said. ‘We are seeing 40 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth in Acer sales. We are making sure that we have a healthy stock profile and that supplies are secured well in advance for what is anticipated will be a good run-in to the end of the year. The fourth quarter is usually the busiest and the best and if we continue to see the year-on-year growth that we have seen during the summer months, and the market continues to gain momentum, we anticipate that the whole channel to end the year on a high.’
Red Squared links with Morse’s IBM division
Red Squared, the IBM managed services operator, has partnered with the IBM Solutions division of Morse, the IT systems integration reseller. The deal is unusual in that Morse will act as a reseller supplying Red Squared’s managed services offering, including Red2Alert, to its IBM mid-market customer base.
Morse is a pan-European technology integrator that supplies complex integrated solutions for clients operating in the UK, France, Germany,Spain and Ireland. According to Red Squared, Morse’s structure allows each country to respond rapidly to the needs of the local market. Its client base, the firm says, includes leading blue chip names from all industry sectors.
Red2Alert, which was launched in April, 2004, with the support of IBM Software Business, is a systems monitoring and management software application, targeted at mid-market enterprises. According to Red Squared, the software has been used for several years to manage multiple servers and networks at its own data centre. The company adds that demand for this type of product and service has increased, with the increased reliance on IT systems, but most traditional systems management tools are too expensive and too complex for mid market companies to consider. John McGuire, Red Squared’s joint managing director, said that he is excited at the prospect of working with a company with the calibre of Morse. ‘We’re looking forward to building a successful partnership with the IBM Solutions Division. Morse has recognised the benefits of Red Squared’s managed services offering,’ he said. Steve O’Meara, Morse’s IBM divisional director, meanwhile, is delighted with Red Squared. ‘We believe that its managed services and Red2Alert will offer our IBM mid-market customer base added value and look forward to developing the relationship with Red Squared,’ he said.
Wick Hill is Vasco channel partner of the year
Wick Hill, the IT security and communications systems reseller, has been appointed channel partner of the year by Vasco, the token-based authentication specialist. The distributor says the award is in recognition of its efforts in expanding UK sales for Vasco’s products. The company says it became a distributor for Vasco in September, 2003.
Bernie Dodwell, Wick Hill’s director of business development, said he is pleased to receive the award, not just on the firm’s behalf but also that of its channel partners. ‘It recognises the growth in sales we have achieved, both in new accounts and in competitive upgrades’.
Jan Valcke, Vasco’s president, said that Wick Hill has enabled Vasco to gain a substantial market share in the UK. ‘We congratulate Wick Hill for its sales, market knowledge and attention to providing good quality and service,’ he said. Building on its success, Wick Hill says it is continuing to expand its partner program - the value-added distributor says it is targeting resellers new to authentication, as well as aiming to migrate existing authentication resellers away from other products and towards Vasco.
Technology Europe, +44-1202-419999;
Computer 2000 UK, +44-870-401050, www.computer2000.co.uk;
Red Squared, +44-161-9296444, www.red2plc.com;
Wick Hill, +44-1483-227600, www.wickhill.co.uk
Steve Gold (sg@mail.com)