ASBIS Hungary Pins Hopes on Canyon and Prestigio

Comments provided to IT Europa by Andrey Velesko, regional sales director, ASBIS.

- Can you give us an overall view of the IT and communications market - what is growing, where the problems lie, how the economy and government decisions and plans are affecting IT investment? What growth is forecast for 2007?

- Hungarian IT and communication market has become pretty mature over the last years and it now reflects main western trends. The largest growth is seen in notebook and accessories markets, while desktop sales in 2006 were approximately the same as year before. Server business posts regular year-on-year growth. Unfortunately, large budget deficit (over 10% of GDP in 2006) hinders governmental investments in IT. The same trend is expected in 2007.

- What trends do you see in the IT market at the moment? How do you think the next few years will pan out?
 
- The convergence of IT and entertainment markets will continue and ASBIS is planning to profit from this trend with its Canyon and Prestigio brands.

- How is ASBIS doing? Growth figures? Staff numbers increasing? Any new vendors? Any old vendors dropped?
 
- ASBIS HU revenue grew by 15% in 2006 against 2005 with the same staff number. We are traditionally strong at Intel-based server products. We have a dedicated group for server products and we carry such brands as Intel, Adaptec, LSI, Supermicro, Tyan, TrippLite, etc. Last year we started distribution of Allied Telesys networking, and AMCC was added to our portfolio recently.

-  Are you still doing well in the hard drive business? What's new in storage?
 
Our desktop storage business is not growing any more but we sell more and more server storage solutions. SAS still did not pick up but we expect that to happen this year. We are looking to extend our portfolio in this lucrative segment. We expect better volume of 2.5" drives this year, and we pin our hopes on Intel’s barebone programme and growth of external memory products.

- Channels - what is happening in channels - which partners are growing, which technologies, which other distributors are you finding competitive?

- As more and more customers go for mobile computing, retail sales channel benefits from that. Falling prices in low-end notebook segment attract more and more private users, and discounters like Tesco, Cora and Metro do their best to meet customers’ changing demands. On the other hand, some retail chains, for example PhotoHall and MediaMarkt, understand that they are not price competitive with discounters and shift their business to higher margin innovative products. ASBIS Hungary promotes Canyon and Prestigio brands with clear sales channels differentiations. We plan to at least double our Canyon and Prestigio sales this year.
      
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