JNI reaches out to European partners

San component vendor launches in the UK

Storage area network (San) component vendor JNI has launched operations in the UK and announced its first channel programme for its European partners.

The company, which previously based its European operations in Munich and Brussels, will be able to support its reseller partners from its new London office by January next year, according to European marketing director Hendrik Wacker.

JNI has also launched its first reseller partner programme, called FibreStar. The scheme operates on three tiers, said Wacker. The first is for resellers that hope to increase their San capabilities and become FibreStar partners.

The higher gold and platinum levels will consist of partners that already have San capability. All will get training, marketing assistance and rebates.

"Fibre Channel is maturing so much that we hope to move from an 80:20 [original equipment manufacturer/reseller] channel to 60:40. We needed to develop and train our partners," said Wacker.

Trevor Pugsley, vendor alliance manager at reseller Computacenter, said: "We approve of any vendor accreditation programme which segments resellers according to capability, so users know what to expect."

Separately, JNI saw its third-quarter turnover hit $18.1m, a drop of 40 per cent. The company made a loss of $353,000.