Legend signs Foxconn motherboards

ASX-listed hardware manufacturer and distributor Legend has partnered giant motherboard maker Foxconn to distribute the latter's products in Australasia and around the globe.

Rob Kester, distribution director for Legend, said Foxconn was the world's largest motherboard manufacturer but had only just started targeting the channel.

"We think there's going to be a huge demand," he said. "Their main business is actually tier one OEMs. They build for people like Dell and HP."

One in three computer cases globally were made by Foxconn. The Taiwanese manufacturer, which has factories in the Chinese province of Shenzhen, had only recently  begun seeking out a channel foothold, Kester said.

He said Foxconn would help fill out Legend's portfolio of memory products. The company would initially push Foxconn motherboards for Intel and AMD platforms to Australia, New Zealand and around the world.

Market presence wasn't the only factor in choosing Foxconn. The way the vendor chose to work with its channel had added to its appeal for Legend, Kester said.

"We believe they are a strong partner for their channel," he said. "They don't want to have 20 or 30 partners. They want to work with two or three in each region."

Some other brands might have five distributors and 20 direct partners in a region. A smaller channel helped keep prices stable by limiting reseller competition, he said.

"We'll be offering a tier one quality product to tier twos and below," he added.

Legend already distributed MSI motherboards but did not see sales of that brand dropping off as a result of the new deal. Foxconn was more focused on system integrators, he said.

Legend listed on the ASX in March. Business had gone well in general since then, Kester said.

Legend also recently opened an audio-visual products arm, Legend Digital.

The company was seeing good returns from Hitachi, AMD and PVR products, Kester said.

He would not talk actual revenue or sales figures.