Acronis launches drive into oem market; targets PC & storage device vendors, VARs

Ken Vermes named director of OEM sales

June 4, 2003, South San Francisco, CA — Acronis, Inc., the technological leader in systems software development, has launched a global OEM initiative targeting leading computer systems and storage device manufactuers, systems integrators and value-added resellers. Under the terms of the OEM program, Acronis' partners will offer their customers either Acronis-branded or private-label software as bundled boxed products, jewel-cased CDs, or embeded into the partner's hardware offerings.

For the PC desktop systems market, Acronis is offering Acronis True Image 6.0, an award-winning, workstation-based disk imaging application that provides users with the ability to create an exact duplicate of their hard disk and permits systems manufacturers to clone disk drives for multi-system installations. Acronis True Image allows users to create an image of their disk without leaving the Windows environment, so they can stay productive and not have to shut down to DOS. No reboot is required in order to create an image.

For the storage enhancement market, the company is offering Acronis MigrateEasy 6.0, an application that lets users and IT managers transfer all of their programs and data directly from one drive to another without needing to reinstall or reconfigure software, a task that can take from hours to days, depending on the complexity of the applications, system configuration, preferences and data.

In conjunction with this expansion into OEM sales, the company announced that Ken Vermes has been named director of OEM sales. He was formerly OEM sales account manager at MedioStream of San Jose, CA. He works out of the company's South San Francisco, CA, corporate headquarters.

"The move into the OEM market is a direct result of the market demand for and wide acceptance of the Acronis family of disk utilities in the retail market," said Max Tsypliaev, president of Acronis. "We currently have OEM agreements with such companies as storage device manufacturer Freecom of Berkeley, CA, and The Netherlands; a private-label agreement with a California-based disk drive upgrade vendor that specializes in mobile systems; and Linux software vendor SuSE of Oakland, CA and Germany. We plan to court hardware makers aggressively, as there is a real need for powerful utilities that are easy to use for all users — from the average PC user to the highly experienced user.

"Disk imaging and data migration are natural products for the systems and storage markets," Tsypliaev said. "Systems and drive vendors will be able to save their customers considerable time and effort using tools designed to for the vast majority of PC users. VARs and systems integrators will be able to customize offerings for their clientele, including creating private-label bundles."

Ken Vermes, director of OEM sales, is a veteran of the software industry and held senior sales positions at MedioStream, Ligos, Daikin, BBS and Scottish & Newcastle Importers Co. .He worked with the first software to write DVDs and developed the original customers for video compression tools. He also pioneered the sales of Newcastle Brown Ale in the United States, making it the fastest growing brand in its category.