Following the October 16th release of Hitachi’s Simple Modular Storage Model 100 (SMS 100), the vendor has received significant positive channel feedback.  More than a month after the SMS 100 was announced to the wider NZ channel, Kerstin Baxter, Hitachi’s ANZ Channel Director, said that several New Zealand partners are already engaged with customers, and that as of 20 November, there had been one sale in NZ “Our partner feedback has been very enthusiastic,” said Baxter.  “The opportunity seems to be immense, and new partner organisations have been contacting us to see how they can sell.”The SMS 100 addresses the need for increased consumer levels of simplicity in storage system design.  A low-cost, entry-level solution, the SMS 100 was designed to be simple enough to install, use and manage that anyone, regardless of technical training or expertise, can take advantage of its benefits.Designed around what Hitachi sees as one of the fastest growing segments in the storage environment – SMBs – the focus is entirely on simplicity.  “It was designed with those customers [SMBs] in mind from the ground up,” said Tim Smith, Senior Marketing Manager, ANZ, for Hitachi.   “We had to ask, ‘What are their key challenges’?  Many are the same as our enterprise customers, but without the IT staff and technical skills.”The product that took about three years to reach the market after Hitachi began work on the idea is now being sold into the SMB market through Hitachi’s dedicated retail partner base.  “If your SMB customers value their information, we’re providing them with the best platform to put it on,” Smith said.