Maxtor maximises its brand in the UK

Hard drive maker Maxtor is offering new online tools to its resellers to educate them on its products and increase brand awareness in the UK's SME, vertical and emerging market segments.

The company, which deals with about 900 UK resellers through its VIP Partner Programme, and sells only through the channel, is offering monthly online tutorials as well as a product testing capability.

Truus Hoeve, channel marketing director for EMEA at Maxtor, maintained that resellers are the best way to build up a brand in new markets.

From October, Maxtor's online support will feature a facility to let VIP resellers test hardware and buy at a lower price. Maxtor already provides online interactive reseller training on its range of hardware.

The move follows the launch of the company's OneTouch standalone hard drive targeted at mobile workers within the SME sector.

Resellers can build the drives into white box PCs, install them into customers' existing PCs or sell them as standalone devices.

Maxtor's distribution partners in the UK are C2000, Enta Technologies, Ingram Micro, Avnet Applied Computing, Ideal Hardware, Actebis and Microtronica.

Nigel Brown, business manager for Maxtor at C2000, explained that Maxtor is a good channel company with dedicated account management staff.

"The channel is the only way to raise the brand name in the wide range of market sectors," he said.

"Demand comes from a range of markets such as the SoHo sector for back up, as well as for personal back up in the corporate sector."

Brown added that training and testing facilities are essential when new products are launched. "Resellers need hands-on experience," he said.