Washington Technology Online Channel News

Sarcom Acquires DSM, Peripheral Innovations

Sarcom Inc., a Columbus, Ohio-based computer reseller, has acquired Data Systems Marketing of Upper Marlboro, Md., and a sister unit, Peripheral Innovations Inc. of Boston. Founded in 1983, Sarcom provides complete business solutions primarily to commercial customers. The acquisition expands Sarcom's capabilities in network services and in the mid-Atlantic region, as well as the government market. About 33 percent of DSM's business was with federal, state and local government customers. Before the acquisition, roughly 5 percent of Sarcom's business was government-related.

Micro Central to Distribute Command Software Systems

Micro Central Inc., Old Bridge, N.J., will distribute anti-virus and information security products from Command Software Systems Inc., Jupiter, Fla. Command Software specializes in products for PCs and networks. Micro Central will distribute Command Software products such as F-PROT Professional, which is an enterprisewide anti-virus solution for DOS, Windows, NetWare, OS/2, Windows 95 and Windows NT platforms.

Bell Atlantic Taps ADC for Channel Extender System

ADC Telecommunications Inc., Minneapolis, will supply a channel extender system to Bell Atlantic Corp., Philadelphia, to support data center needs of large IBM-compatible mainframe customers. The system will provide bandwidth and point-to-point data connections, ADC said. The target market will be organizations with enormous mission-critical data operations and database security concerns, the company said.

Compaq, Baan Develop Packaged Solutions

With an eye on the small- to medium-sized enterprise, Compaq Computer Corp., Houston, and the Baan Co., Netherlands, have bundled business solutions. The hardware and software offerings include either a Microsoft SQL Server or an Oracle database, a Compaq server and Baan ERP Software. The bundles range in price from $150,000 at the low end to $650,000 at the high end. The companies estimated that spending on enterprise solutions will be between $15 billion and $20 billion worldwide over the next five years.

HP Taps Intercal for Channel Partnership

Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., picked Intercal LLC, Ashland, Ore., for a channel partnership for new software to calibrate test equipment. Intercal develops automated software for calibrating microwave test equipment. The new software will run on PCs. Under terms of the agreement, Intercal will act as an independent software vendor to develop and market calibration software products that may be used in conjunction with HP's existing and future microwave test equipment products.

NCR Partners with Exabyte on Data Backup

Exabyte Inc., Boulder, Colo., will supply tape drive backup systems to Dayton, Ohio-based NCR Corp.'s WorldMark Enterprise Network Server line. Exabyte's Eliant 820 has a capacity of 14 gigabytes (compressed) and a transfer rate of 2 megabytes per second (compressed) so users can backup 14 gigabytes of data in less than two hours. NCR had used earlier Exabyte products on its enterprise servers

Asian Resellers Value Fast Delivery

A study by market research firm Dataquest, Stamford, Conn., shows that 53 percent of Asia-Pacific resellers value fast product delivery as more important than vendor profit margins. That sentiment was particularly strong in Australia, Taiwan and Malaysia, where 70 percent of the respondents asserted timely stock cycles as their top priority. In Thailand, Korea and China, the figure was less than 40 percent.

-Nick Wakeman