Resellers unfazed by Lenovo/EMC bundle

Small business resellers have brushed aside concerns Lenovo’s decision to bundle EMC’s on-demand backup service, Mozy.com, with its notebooks could cut them out of the backup and storage equation.

The Lenovo Online Data Backup service will include unlimited online backup capacity, open and locked file support, tools to allow users to control the amount of bandwidth their online backup service takes up, and private managed encryption. The service will be offered with Lenovo’s new ThinkPad SL series notebooks for small business customers as a free 90-day trial with up to 5GB of storage on selected models.

One potential concern is that the online backup directly from Mozy.com could shut resellers out from providing more comprehensive backup and storage sales to small business customers.

Axxis Technology managing director, Mathew Dickerson, agreed resellers could lose out on making backup sales but argued anybody wanting to keep up with the market should become more fl exible with their offerings. “We might lose some sales on backup devices, but we’ve really got to look at where the industry is going and what is going to be the most effective thing for us to keep selling in the future,” he said. “If it means that it’s online backup services then we need to research it and make sure that we have good and effective tools to sell in that way.”

However, Dickerson argued poor broadband support was still limiting online services take-up in Australia.

“With the infrastructure we’ve got in Australia the upload speeds and Internet connections are not quick enough to support good online backup,” he claimed. “That’s an issue with the ability to offer in the cloud backup services – we haven’t got the ability to transfer data quick enough.”

Total Computer Technology (TCT) managing director, Robert Brown, said most small business notebooks weren’t properly backed up and the Lenovo/EMC bundling initiative would prove a good move for customers.

“I would rather have my clients backed up, which is better for us and their business, than worry about whether or not I’m going to sell a tape drive tomorrow,” he said. “Keeping the customer’s business running smoothly is good for my business.

“Once you’re in the door with a product then it’s easier to sell backup to every other laptop they’ve got or to their servers.”

Managing director at South Australia-based reseller Calvert Technolgies, Dean Calvert, agreed having an online backup capability for laptops was a good idea.

“There are other things that you can do for them… training, making sure the rest of their infrastructure is running properly and managing the network and computers. That’s where the real money is,” he said.