VAI Partners with Mid-Range for Canadian Sales

Published: December 10, 2007

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Having just rolled out version 3.7.6 of its RPG-based S2K Enterprise ERP suite for manufacturers and distributors, Vormittag Associates is looking northward from its Ronkonkoma, New York, headquarters to the Great White North to try to stir up a little more business. And to that end, VAI has just announced a partnership with Mid-Range Computer Group, which has been the largest reseller of i5/OS and OS/400 platforms in Canada for the past decade.

These days, Mid-Range Computer is more than a reseller of IBM's complete system and storage portfolio; it also operates two data centers of its own for outsourcing and application hosting, based on a mix of IBM gear. The company, which is based in the AS/400 hotbed of Markham, Ontario, was founded in 1988, and quickly became the largest reseller of refurbished IBM systems in Canada, and then eventually made the transition to selling new gear as well as storage and middleware. Mid-Range is already a partner that peddles various ERP suites from Oracle (including the JDE suite on the i5/OS platform) and Lawson Software, time management software from Kronos, business intelligence tools from New Generation Software, high availability software from Vision Solutions, and application development tools from LANSA, among others. VAI, which has been making RPG application since 1978, is then in good company in the Mid-Range portfolio of software products.

The fall of the U.S. greenback relative to the Canadian looney is another reason VAI is eager to push some sales in Canada. "As a major developer of ERP software for the IBM System i, VAI understands that a partnership with Mid-Range, one of the leading IBM dealers in Canada, is the ideal addition to our Canadian reseller portfolio," says Brian Angle, senior sales executive at VAI. "Combined with the recent strengthening of the Canadian dollar, this partnership provides the right conditions for an aggressive marketing push in the region."

Mid-Range is also fired up to push the S2K Enterprise product line, which is geared more for midrange shops than many of the other more complex and expensive suites that Mid-Range has been selling. "We are eager to offer our customers access to VAI's S2K product line," says Tom Burton, vice president of business development and acquisitions at Mid-Range. "This solution gives Mid-Range customers access to a full-service software line for the IBM platform. Since S2K is designed specifically for the System i, it allows streamlined implementation, customized options and integrated functionality."

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