Brocade not concerned about Renaissance's troubles

Brocade’s ANZ Regional Manager Graham Shultz said that Renaissance’s recent financial trouble has not yet affected the distribution deal between the two companies.

Renaissance recently reported a $2.7 million loss for the 2009 year. The company's former Managing Director and Finance Director resigned at the end of last year after poor financial results.

Renaissance is the sole distributor of Brocade technologies in New Zealand, and while Shultz wouldn’t go into detail he said, “We did due diligence on all of our distributors around the region. At this stage, everything is as we agreed and permitted.”

He added: “It’s suffice to say, at this stage we’re sticking with our commitments to Renaissance.”

Brocade signed on Renaissance a few months ago, and has been looking to increase awareness of its LAN solutions in the region and take a piece of Cisco’s pie, as previously reported in The Channel magazine.

Shultz also said that the company is looking for partners in the region, but isn’t looking to flood the market.

“We’re not looking for 100 channel partners, because you’re going to end up in the same situation as our competitors; everybody is selling the same thing,” he said. “We want committed channel partners with the right skills and the right certifications selling into the markets where we play and where we’re successful and where our technology is aligned

Brocade acquired Foundry last year, and counts Weta Digital and TradeMe among its New Zealand customers, both of whom use Foundry’s IP solutions.