XS Technology, a new UK company re-selling surplus channel stock, will start next month. XS said it will take unsold and unwanted kit from vendors, distributors and resellers and sell it in immature markets. Thereby keeping everyone's channels clean, it claims. Based in Milton Keynes, XS will start with five staff, and plans to take just about any PC or component. Stock will be sourced from Europe, and sent out to Africa, Asia or America. Its three directors will be Martyn Parsons, ex-IBM at Greenock, Nigel Lippard, currently MD of manufacturer and distributor Pine Technology, and Keith Williams, also from Pine, where he was head of European sales. Rival surplus stock dealer PST was unfazed. Peter King, PST sales director, said: "We've been in business for 25 years, and have a very sound relationship with our suppliers. Manufacturers must be confident about what's going to happen with their surplus stock and I think they will be wary about a company setting up in this sector." King said there were many small-time brokers in the UK, which were not seen by PST as competitors. Williams stated: "XS will not be a broker, but a trader. We will re-work, or re-sell, new or second-hand surplus machines." Lippard added: "There is definitely room in this market for another company. As we see increased financial pressure on inventory, vendors will be under increasing pressure to hold inventory rather than put it through the distribution channel and companies like XS will give them way out for discreet disposal." ®