Distributor Drive Control Corp. (DCC) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) are collaborating to offer South African resellers the opportunity to leverage DCC"s certification on HP"s EVA 3000 storage solutions.

Dubbed the EVA 3000 Turbo Programme, this is intended to make HP"s Enterprise Virtual Array 3000 (EVA 3000) Raid storage solution available to a wider reseller market, and to assist HP and DCC to expand into the SME segment with storage solutions.

Explains Yesh Surjoodeen, StorageWorks product manager at HP: "HP"s StorageWorks is segmented into two distinct areas: Volume and Value. Currently, any authorized HP reseller may sell "Volume" products. However, the "Value" product offering comprises solutions that require technical skills and competencies and certification - an exercise that requires an investment from the reseller. Larger resellers focused on the corporate market have completed the certification, but the SME market remains under-serviced, as many smaller resellers are often excluded due to financial and resource constraints."

Says Rudi van Rensberg, HP storage specialist at DCC: "DCC has complied and adhered 100 percent to HP"s certification criteria, and is offering resellers the opportunity to break into the value storage space with HP"s virtual storage arrays, by assisting them with pre-sales specifications, solution design and configuration support, however installation and warranty support will be executed directly by HP Services. This will deliver a high level of storage expertise to resellers and end-users."