In the UK, now that Sun Microsystems Inc has parted company with one of its two master resellers – Frontline Distribution Ltd, Basingstoke, Hampshire – the firm is planning to re-vamp its whole distribution strategy at the beginning of next year, to relieve, it says, pressure on its direct sales force. Sun is appointing eight Authorised Business Centres to handle the low-end of its product line: the Business Centres will work closely with Sun’s own centres in those regions. Gearing up for the next series of battles at the low-end of the Unix workstation market, the Centres should give Sun’s direct sales force more room to cultivate customers for its higher-end server kit on which the fatter margins are made. Technology Plc, Warrington, Cheshire, retains its status as a master reseller.
