Informix Corp is now threatened with revolt among its dealer community in the UK as a consequence of its choice not to renew contracts with veteran distributors TopLog Ltd and Sphinx Level V Ltd but deciding to go it alone with Frontline Distribution Ltd. This is despite the fact that last fiscal year, it generated some 32% of its indirect channel revenue with TopLog and more than 45% with Sphinx. Both distributors were outraged with the way Informix carried out its policy – they were given no prior warning and no explanation of the rationale behind the move. They were simply told they could purchase Informix product until this month and would not be authorised to sell it beyond the end of September. The two accused the company of squeeze tactics to increase margins and improve service revenues with the introduction of mandated service contracts. It is our belief that Informix do not want to grow this business. They simply want a bigger slice of the existing cake. Meanwhile, last week, UK reseller Microdec Ltd formed a value-added reseller protest group to force Informix to reverse its decision. The group, which is expected to include about 60 value-added resellers, is scheduled to meet in mid-July.
Source from the US
Microdec managing director Phil Dobson declared, Informix is abandoning its value-added resellers by this decision, but if it expects us to take this lying down it can forget it. We will source from the US if Informix tries to force us down this road. Informix currently generates some 60% of its total UK turnover via the indirect channel, but says it now aims to have a 50-50 direct-indirect split by the end of its next fiscal year. The company has taken on between 10 and 15 direct sales staff over the past six months, bringing the total to 25, and intends to expand this number still further in the months ahead, with the aim of penetrating more deeply into the large corporate accounts that it says the value-added reseller community has not managed to reach. Informix certainly does not seem to see what all the fuss is about or appreciate the anti-competition stance it is taking in removing choice from the reseller community. It said, This will now allow us to focus all our resources on one distributor rather than split it three ways, and anyway, typically 95% of our value-added resellers single-source their products. It decided to go with FrontLine, it added, because of Frontline’s size, financial strength, reputation in the client-server market and the fact it promised to match the trading terms offered by the other distributors. TopLog and Sphinx were not asked if they would be prepared to do so.
