Following on from our rave yesterday about how HDS is doing in the SMB market, reader might be interested to know that the company has appointed a new Channel Marketing Manager to help boost it channel partners market themselves better.

Andrew Heading will cover the ANZ territory and his main responsibility will be to develop and execute communications strategies for the channel. He’ll also “work closely with partners to develop and execute marketing initiatives” and get involved in “carrying out public relations campaigns for channel partners” says HDS.

Prior to this role, Heading was the marketing specialist for HAL Data Services, an IT finance company, where he managed promotions and incentive programs for channel partners and direct mail campaigns. He has also worked in marketing for Toshiba TEC UK Imaging Systems, where he was responsible for advertising, event management, product launches, direct mail, corporate hospitality, CRM & database implementation and incentives.

Michael Heitz, Channel Director, Hitachi Data Systems – Australia and New Zealand said: “Hitachi Data Systems’ business is growing faster than the storage market based on IDC figures, this result is indeed reflective of the great work of our channel partners.”

“Our commitment to our channel is to invest in them for growth. We will continue to invest more funds and resources into our channel as we see them as being crucial to our success. To this end, we will draw on Andrew’s experience in marketing and communications to ensure our partners have the support they need to deliver the best possible storage solutions to customers.”