Among a string of minor announcements which will be described in a future issue, notably that all 3350 an 3375 disk drives, and the 3370 Models A12, B12 and CO2 are being withdrawn from marketing shortly, IBM in the US yesterday changed all the nameplates on the doors of its resellers. Any firm that who markets IBM products will henceforward be allowed to hang out a shingle calling itself an IBM Business Partner. In addition, the names and categories had become so baffling that IBM has fined them down to just five. An Authorised Agent provides sales, installation and applications support for a vertical or defined geographic market. An Authorised Remarketer buys hardware from IBM and adds value with proprietary software. Authorised Application Specialists provide sales, installation and applications support on local, regional or national level. Authorised Dealers are straight box shifters but also provide warranty service. Authorised Programmes staff offer marketing, installation, educational, technical or service support for IBM products.
