Pillar Starts in The Netherlands

Pillar Data Systems started official operations in The Netherlands after it brokered a partnership with leading Dutch systems integrator Qi ict.

The exclusive collaboration marks another milestone in the European expansion of Pillar’s business and will see Qi ict, a storage, networking, datacom and security specialist, providing Pillar’s market-leading technology as well as offering the services that complement it.

The move reaffirms Pillar’s European channel strategy, which has already seen the developer of the pioneering Pillar Axiom unified storage : architecture open partner relationships with a limited and select group of specialists by market. By adopting this approach, Pillar plans to guarantee that end customers will receive a personalised service and approach, whilst channel partners will benefit from greater selling potential as saturation of the marketplace is avoided.

"Qi ict is a great fit for Pillar," said Frank Puetz, sales director for Central Europe at Pillar Data Systems. "Not only does the company specialise in storage and networking, it also has a strong heritage in providing the full spectrum of service and support for both."

"Qi ict also has an enviable client list in the mid- to high-range enterprise segment – our core market – and the company’s mission statement really resonates with our own," Puetz continued. "These combined factors align our organisations perfectly and we expect to now really shake up the storage market in The Netherlands. This partnership will be truly different from anything else that currently exists in the region."

Qi ict operates an exclusive policy with respect to the vendors it represents, and conducted exhaustive levels of market research before approaching Pillar to be its third storage vendor alongside EMC and HDS.

Qi ict was impressed with the unique and innovative underlying technology that Pillar was able to offer, and believed that customers would be very interested in the Axiom’s ability to double average utilisation rates. The product’s high-availability and its reliable performance in heterogeneous environments then qualified it on all business levels.

“Qi ict’s mission is to maximise the uptime of its customers’ ICT facilities by offering high-end services and products," said Peter Groeneveld, CEO of Qi ict. “From both a technical and an organizational standpoint, Pillar solutions are a perfect match with the high uptime maintenance contracts we offer from our Network Control Centre, fitting our ‘Living Uptime’ philosophy with best of breed components."

For the two organisations, this business relationship represents the culmination of four months of talks and meetings in Europe and the US to explore complementary synergies, and to ensure the provision of sales and services would be seamless from the start of the partnership.

Following the start of the partnership, Qi ict will be organising an exclusive introductory seminar, followed by several customer launch events and other joint activities and communications efforts for other enterprises interested in learning more.