Tripp Lite has kicked off a campaign to raise its profile with both the channel and customers on this side of the pond.
The vendor says it hopes to pose a challenge to the firms that currently dominate the market: “We want to be a credible alternative to the market leaders,” Peter Harris, UK regional sales manager told Channel Pro.
“The market has been dominated by APC – they do have large market share, but the UPS market has gone through a number of changes. We think Tripp Lite's products are as good as good as APC’s.”
Although it has been active in the UK for some years, the firm is now looking to grow its business by promising its partners greater margins it on its range of power protection, management and connectivity solutions. “Our competitors over distribute, and only offer a 3-4 percent margin. We’re showing double-digit front end margin,” says Eric Diehl, Tripp Lite’s VP sales, Canada and Western Europe, who adds that the company hopes to sign up “not more than four or five distributors” in relation to APC’s 13.
Harris explains that the vendor is going after IT resellers, power specialists as well as firms in specific vertical markets, including healthcare, transport, audio visual as well as environmentally-focused partners.
Tripp Lite is also promoting its relationship with Cisco in the VoIP space: “No one installs VoIP without UPS, so Cisco resellers are on our radar from that standpoint.”
Market drivers, says the vendor, include virtualisation, legislation and mobility, which are all forcing organisations across almost every sector to protect their IT and other critical assets from power disruption. Tripp Lite’s products range from single and 3-Phase UPS, Surge, DC/AC Inverters, Power Distribution Units (PDU), KVM, SmartRack enclosures to cables and accessories.
The firm says there are opportunities for resellers that add value to its product range in the form of site surveys, installation and onsite maintenance.
