Avalanche of Acrobat rivals expected as channel grows

Victoria-based software distributor Avalanche Media has announced plans to boost its Australian reseller channel from 40 to 75 by the end of September.

Peter Cameron, business development director at Avalanche, said the distributor wanted to push harder into corporate and government markets and gain a more even geographic spread of resellers across Australia.

“We have got a number of resellers in NSW and Queensland, but only one in the ACT and a couple in Western Australia. And I don't think we've got any at all in South Australia,” he said.

Avalanche specialised in software from Acrobat rivals PDF Factory and FinePrint, Cameron said.

“What we're really doing is positioning ourselves to be picked up by standard operating environments in corporate and government organisations,” he said. “So what we're looking for is resellers with good links into corporate and government.”

Different vertical markets would also be targeted with reseller signings as appropriate, Cameron added.

PDF Factory, for example, offered functionality similar to Acrobat – though not necessarily as high level – for a lower price, he said.

“What we've found is that you're never going to knock Acrobat Reader out of the marketplace. There's 500 million copies around the world,” Cameron said.

Many users might only need Acrobat for one or two staff, but found having some PDF functionality a boon for many users. PDF Factory was compatible with Acrobat and could be read by Acrobat reader, he said.

“They might still need to do marketing brochures, but they don't need all the high-end features [of Acrobat],” Cameron said. “Companies can buy a couple of copies of Acrobat and 50 copies of PDF Factory.”

The company was also working to source software from overseas and develop new products locally that would boost its portfolio for the channel, he added.

“We're looking at an international market for the products and will be developing our own,” he said.

Avalanche also sold direct online and via word-of-mouth, but had found that a channel model was more efficient and productive in netting larger deals, Cameron said.

He said that PDF Factory also saved bandwidth by converting files into smaller sizes. Excel files, for example, were 37 percent of the original size in Acrobat and 33 percent of the original size in PDF Factory.

Corel Draw files were 37 percent original size in Acrobat and 28 percent of that size in PDF Factory, he said.

“An original Word file in Acrobat is 87 percent of the size, and in ours is 56 percent,” Cameron said. “Internet Explorer files are 101 percent in Acrobat, and 75 percent of the original size in ours.”

Avalanche was formed in 1997. It has six staff in its Cheltenham office.