VisionTek Products, a leading supplier of graphics cards, PC/TV tuners and PC accessories, said on Friday that it became the No. 1 North American channel partner for ATI, graphics products group of Advanced Micro Devices, in 2008. The company said that in 2008 it managed to boost its shipments to the levels higher compared to other suppliers of ATI Radeon-based graphics boards.

VisionTek, which has been on the market with its own-brand products for about a decade now, explains its current success not only with the well-known name (which was once associated closely with Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce products, the arch-rival for ATI Radeon), but also with relatively low pricing as well as lifetime warranty.

“VisionTek is the only company to offer lifetime product warranties and US-based toll free customer support. Discerning gamers trust our brand because we stand behind our products, but ultimately they selected us because we maintain the best performance-to-price standards in the market,” said Michael K. Innes, VisionTek chief operating officer.

Unfortunately, VisionTek and ATI did not reveal how many graphics cards the company succeeded in selling in 2008 and also did not reveal based on what the vendor can be named the No. 1.

It is necessary to say that unlike some of its competitors’ products, VisionTek’s ATI Radeon graphics cards can be acquired in retail chains.

“VisionTek is a long standing retail partner at Best Buy and leads the way with customer initiatives in the PC graphics category. Best Buy has the highest standards in the consumer electronics industry and it stands to reason that our largest AMD graphics partner, VisionTek, is also AMD largest partner for North America in 2008,” said Scott Wallace, merchandise manager for Best Buy’s PC peripheral category.

Besides Best Buy, there are other well known retail and online stores carrying VisionTek’s products, including Dell.com, Fry’s Electronics, Future Shop, Micro Center, Newegg.com, Tiger.com, Wal-Mart and other.

VisionTek plans to continue building its partnership with AMD in 2009 with new product launches that will extend the brand’s dominance in the consumer market well into the next decade.

“It’s no surprise to me that VisionTek was AMD's No. 1 North American consumer graphics brand in retail for 2008. VisionTek, as an exclusive ATI Radeon partner, has always focused on putting the consumer’s needs first, year after year! We’re delighted to have them as a partner and we’ll be doing everything to continue to grow share further in 2009,” said John Byrne, AMD’s vice president of worldwide sales for channel and regional OEM.

Tags: ATI, AMD, Radeon, VisionTek