Johannesburg, 26 Apr 2004
Sun Microsystems has chosen Horizon as its new channel development partner (CDP) for sub-Saharan Africa as part of its strategy to reduce cost and complexity as well as accelerate network service deployment in the region.
The partnership with Horizon was announced last week by Jos Nickmans, Sun Microsystems channel and alliance manager sub-Saharan Africa. He told channel partners that while Sun was known for introducing disruptive technology, through its partnership with Horizon, Sun was also planning to be disruptive in terms of business models, product bundles, and partner strategies.
"Sun realised the need for a CDP to reach new customers in the small business, home office, and retail markets." Said Nickmans. "After considering various approaches, Sun decided to accept the proposal by Doug Wooley, Workgroup MD, to form the Horizon business unit with Pinnacle as a focussed and dedicated CDP."
Nickmans says Horizon was chosen because of its ability to leverage the knowledge of Workgroup and Pinnacle, particularly their understanding of the region, Sun's offerings, and partnership development strategies, as well as their ability to simplify business processes.
"Our vision is to build a Sun channel through providing a comprehensive set of resources and value added services to our partners," says Nickmans. "Horizon is in the unique position of being able to assist with financial requirements and tendering processes as well as being able to provide dedicated resources to new partners."
Wooley says as a CDP, Horizon is able to add value in creating new markets for Sun. "We want to make consumers in retail and vertical markets of where we can add value, such as providing stock management methodologies."
Vito Bonafede, Sun Microsystems regional director sub-Saharan Africa, says partners are a key component of how Sun goes to market, and Horizon will enable Sun to address new markets, especially small and medium businesses.
"Sun has no intention of going directly to the small and medium business market place," says Bonafede. "Partners are very important and Horizon will assist in developing those partners to bring Sun's product set to smaller businesses to expand the overall market."
Nickmans concluded the launch of Sun's new CDP by summarising Horizon's strengths in the region and declaring: "We are open for business."
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