Tag: Westcon-Comstor

Silver Peak signs deal with Westcon-Comstor

Posted on October 26, 2018 by - News

Silver Peak, the global SD-WAN outfit announced a global distribution agreement with Westcon-Comstor, a value-added global distributor (VAD) of security, collaboration, infrastructure and data centre gear.

Through its Westcon line of business, the distributor will offer the full portfolio of Silver Peak software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) edge solutions, including the Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN edge platform, to resellers and enterprise customers across Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific.

By adding EdgeConnect to its portfolio, Westcon will provide resellers and enterprise customers with what it claims is a complete solution that eliminates the need for conventional branch routers. EdgeConnect uniquely unifies foundational branch network functions, SD-WAN, WAN optimisation, routing and security into a single, centrally managed, business-driven, SD-WAN edge.

Michael O’Brien, vice president, worldwide channel sales at Silver Peak said: “Modern enterprises operate in the cloud for speed and efficiency, but traditional routers weren’t designed for that Built for the cloud, EdgeConnect empowers enterprises with a WAN edge architecture that frees them from the associated complexity and expense of traditional router-centric WAN approaches. This presents a substantial opportunity for Westcon to offer resellers and enterprise customers, across the globe, a solution that directly and securely connects users to SaaS and cloud applications to deliver the highest quality of experience. The Silver Peak and Westcon distribution agreement represents a strategic partnership that leverages the core competencies of both organisations.”

David Grant, chief operating officer at Westcon said: “At Westcon, we pride ourselves in transforming the technology supply chain through our capabilities in the cloud, services and global deployments. Partnering with Silver Peak means we can now offer value-added distribution of our full portfolio to existing Silver Peak partners, while evangelising the SD-WAN addressable market opportunity to potential new value-added resellers (VARs) and system integrators across the company’s existing collaboration, infrastructure and security portfolios.”

Microsoft expands finds new Surface Hub distributor

Posted on September 6, 2017 by - News

surfacetabWestcon-Comstor is joining Tech Data’s Maverick as UK distributor for Surface Hub as the software king of the world has expanded the reach of its Surface Hub audiovisual (AV) display.

The delayed Surface Hub launched in the UK last year and had until recently been available only through specialist AV partners.

The product, which is available in 55″ and 84″ models, launched with just 20 partners across all of Europe, but the partner base in the UK was broadened earlier this year.

Ryan Asdourian, Microsoft’s Windows and Surface lead in the UK, said: “The addition of the Surface Hub to Westcon-Comstor’s portfolio will ensure that they are able to offer the VAR community the best possible collaboration solutions for customers throughout the UK and Ireland.

“We have been delighted with the reaction to the Surface Hub since it was first introduced to the UK market in 2016 and the addition of Westcon-Comstor as a distributor, combined with its strong portfolio of wraparound services such as Skype for Business, will ensure that even more organisations are able to transform the way their employees collaborate, share and communicate.”

The Microsoft Surface Hub partner base in the UK now includes Insight, Computacenter, Misco and SCC

Wayne Mason, EMEA unified comms general manager at Westcon-Comstor, added: “We are focused on providing organisations with the best possible collaboration tools to ensure employees are able to work together more easily and effectively.

“The Microsoft Surface Hub absolutely ticks the box both from a technology perspective and in the culture of collaboration it creates. With our ability to wrap additional services around the Surface Hub and a comprehensive portfolio of complementary solutions for Skype for Business we are creating a very strong offer for the VAR community.”

Westcon-Comstor finishes back-office overhaul

Posted on May 22, 2017 by - News

AAEAAQAAAAAAAAQJAAAAJDNiMGVhY2RiLTZhNzAtNGQ3YS1hYTFiLWQyMjI2MzM1MGUzMwDistributor Westcon-Comstor has said that it has completed its back-office overhaul with outsourcing specialist Genpact.

The scheme, which has seen roles covering 52 countries outsourced to the business process outsourcing (BPO) specialist, started two years ago. Various posts were shifted to Romania in a move which affected almost one in six of its then 1,900 staff in the region.

In 2016 the outsourcing initiative took effect across Westcon-Comstor’s Asia-Pacific operations, with the programme expanded into North America this year. The distributor has not announced how many staff globally were impacted by the process.

At the same time there was a roll-out of a new SAP ERP platform. The software, which took three years to deploy, went live in Europe six months ago. Problems with the roll-out hurt the company badly with a 30 per cent sales decline in Europe.

CEO Dolph Westerbos predicted that the investments in its back-office foundations will serve the company well in the years to come.

What is looming on the horizon for the company is some more uncertainty, as current owner Datatec has been in discussions to sell the distributor since early this year.

Having initially published several stock market updates alluding a deal concerning one part of its business, Datatec revealed a month ago that the talks related to a potential $800m sale of Westcon-Comstor. Suitors including Synnex, Arrow, and have all been linked to a potential buyout, but a transaction is still yet to be agreed.

Westcon-Comstor expected to be sold

Posted on January 30, 2017 by - News

ForSaleThe dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell on earth yarn claiming that Westcon-Comstor is about to be sold off.

Datatec, the parent company of WestconGroup and Logicalis, has confirmed that it is in the process of negotiating “a material transaction” and the rumour is that its $4.9 billion distributor is going to be flogged off.

Datatec has told the regulators that the “material transaction” could have a material effect on the $6.5 billion company’s stock price if it is successfully completed.

Westcon-Comstor has not been doing that well over recent quarters. Westcon’s revenue fell 10 percent in the most recent filing period to $2.26 billion, with sales dropping everywhere except Asia-Pacific. The rumour is that it makes sense to off-load it, however no one is confirming anything. .

One of the reasons for the company’s woes is that its Latin America was sucking it dry and it was costing a fortune to transform the company’s business process outsourcing (BPO) practice.

Datatec spent $160 million in June 1998 to buy a 92.5 percent stake in WestconGroup and quickly expanded into Europe, which now accounts for 34 percent of the distributor’s overall sales.