NEWS

Select: Excited about Storage Solutions

By VARINDIA - 2010-04-13

Ever since Select Technologies started its operations, it was known as a value-added distributor in the info-security space, even though the company was dealing with storage products from Legato or Tandberg Data. To keep a low profile in storage or continue with the security mantle was perhaps a deliberate tactic of the company. But now the time has changed and storage is no more considered as techy or niche. The young energetic Krishna Raj Sharma, the Business Manager of Select Technologies, has a very good answer ––“Storage is simpler now.”

He adds, “When we started with security, we were tremendously successful. In storage, we were keeping a bit low because the volume was not picking up, but now the situation has changed. Security and storage companies are getting consolidated. So, looking at the trends, Select has taken a serious stance.”

To add to its portfolio, Select has taken conscious steps to make some tie-ups this year, including EMC Insignia. An SMB focussed solution, Insignia is a bundle of software and hardware products. It has not only features of storage and backup but also has replication features. It has a small version of eRoom SMB edition for collaboration as well. Secondly, the company has tied up with Brocade for File Area Network (FAN) solution – known as Tapestry range of products. People who have large networks, spread across the country, face problems in accessing centralized file servers in terms of accessibility, bandwidth, connectivity, etc. This solution makes the file access simpler and saves a lot of cost. Apart from that, this solution is intelligent enough to understand various formats of data storage propagated by various vendors, including EMC, HP, Hitachi, Sun, etc. The real job of Select Technologies starts after signing up with the accounts. It invests in equipping its internal resources, including the pre-sale, post-sale and technical resources. Not only this, says Sharma, “For FAN solution, we are investing in POC, demo boxes, etc. We have organized FAN seminars for educating the customers (on 7th December in Mumbai and 12th December in Delhi). We have invited very few partners whom we have trained, equipped and enabled to sell the solutions.”

FAN, of course, is a new concept. And, Select equally is active in organizing end-customer campaigns for popularizing this concept. However, the company has started working with 3–4 partners in each of the metros and, according to Sharma, they are looking at doubling the number very soon. Sharma is of the opinion that partners are now capable of speaking beyond the run-of-the-mill solutions, which nobody has spoken as of date. “During our eStorm session, we had a very good presentation and a lot of customers had taken interest in this,” he added. Surely for the partners, he talks something new. It is a good opportunity to add on to his bottom line so also the customers’ confidence for having given an innovative solution.

To enable the partners, Select has dedicated storage resources all across the branches. Sharma adds, “For Insignia, we have signed up with 27 partners, which will be increased to 36. Apart from this, we have 20 partners for overall storage, including Legato and Brocade and we will activate a lot of programmes for the storage solutions.” However, at present, Select is running an incentive scheme on Insignia solution, which will be valid till March 2007.