Components vendor PNY is hoping to build ties with the UK’s three main buying groups after signing Enta Technologies as its fifth distributor.
Enta will be the first UK distributor to carry PNY’s memory products, which have previously only been available through PC World. The agreement also covers PNY’s graphics boards and Flash media products.
PNY already works with broadliners Computer 2000 and Micro Peripherals in the SME and e-tail space. Components specialist Microtronica and CAD distributor Man and Machine work with PNY to supply its graphics cards.
Neil Hill, UK distribution manager at PNY, told CRN: “This gives us an extra dimension in the components space that we did not previously have.
“The main focus on the partnership will be to launch our memory products into the UK channel. The two main players there are Kingston Technology and Corsair, and we are hoping to take as much market share from them as we can.”
Hill said PNY’s memory products come with 10-year warranties and are very price competitive. Resellers can also benefit from using PNY’s laptop and desktop configurator, he claimed.
Hill admitted Enta’s status as the only premier supplier of all the UK’s three main IT dealer groups - Brigantia, Integra and Network Buying Group - was also a key factor. The trio have about 1,700 members between them.
“This gives us complete coverage from a retail point of view, so everyone can now walk into a store and see the PNY brand,” he said.
Jon Atherton, vice president at Enta, said: “PNY has made very strong inroads into retail with PC World, but realises it now needs to focus on the channel. Enta will be the only distributor carrying all of PNY’s products. No one else can offer a one-stop shop on its portfolio.”
However, Anne Keefe, UK and Ireland sales director at Kingston Technology, was doubtful of PNY’s prospects in the memory sector.
“It is interesting timing for PNY to launch into the UK channel now as the market is very tough. DRam prices are at an all-time low, with no signs of improvement on the horizon. PNY will find it difficult to get going from a standing start when it is competing with vendors, such as Kingston Technology that have been in the UK for 20 years.”
Keefe also scoffed at PNY’s warranties, stressing that Kingston offers lifetime warranty on its products.
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