Broadliner ALSO is continuing to expand its 3D technology portfolio. Newcomers to the range are the DWS and Leapfrog professional 3D printers and the Sculpto entry-level model. ALSO is thus further enhancing its profile as a leading provider in the area of additive manufacturing. Deployment scenarios for 3D printers range ever wider, from high-priced models for challenging component production in manufacturing to compact units for printing smaller items. ALSO included the first 3D printer in its portfolio in 2017, since then the distributor and technology provider has continuously expanded its offering in the area of additive manufacturing. The 3D printers and solutions that ALSO distributes now support different complete workflows in additive manufacturing up to and including the finished product.

"By further expanding our 3D technology portfolio ALSO is again increasing the range of its offerings and thereby strengthening its long-term commitment in this important growth area", said Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO. "We will continue to invest in this exciting sector and take new partners on board."

With the professional 3D printers from DWS und Leapfrog and the less expensive model from Sculpto the company now offers, in addition to HP Multi Jet Fusion technology, a wide range of devices for many different uses. The 3D printers made by DWS of Italy were developed specially for production in jewellery and dental, specific productions in general industry and all sorts of prototype work. DWS uses laser-based stereolithography (SLA) and works with an extensive range of materials and software developed in-house. ALSO additionally distributes DWS' new DFAB product and materials for one visit dental restorations in Germany. The Dutch manufacturer's Leapfrog FDM printers are using two print heads that can be operated separately in different modes and can also work with several materials in parallel. ALSO distributes Leapfrog's Bolt Pro model in Europe. Buyers of professional DWS and Leapfrog products also benefit from the expertise bundled at the ALSO European Centre of Competence for 3D Printing. Users of the small and very easy-to-use Sculpto printer can 3D print swiftly and simply, without special previous knowledge, objects up to the size of a football in many different colours and shapes by means of the Sculpto app.

Security VAD emt Distribution has expanded its business in Africa, in collaboration with Acunetix.

Acunetix integrates with popular WAFs to automatically create appropriate Web Application Firewall rules to protect web applications against attacks targeting vulnerabilities that the scanner finds. This allows customers to temporarily prevent exploitation of high-severity vulnerabilities until they are able to fix them.

Software specialist DSD Europe has expanded its cloud services offering with RG System's IT Management solution. RG System is an all-in-one IT management solution that combines 3 essential modules for IT management: Remote Monitoring & Management, Data Backup & Restore and Endpoint Security, so you can manage your customers' IT infrastructure with a single solution.

Systems, devices and applications play an increasingly important role in business continuity IT infrastructures are becoming more complex and the amount of digital data is increasing. These are developments that increase the importance of a clear IT management platform and good IT infrastructure security.

"RG System is an IT management solution provided with more than 300 plug-ins, such as Acronis, Kaspersky and Bitdefender, free of charge. With these plug-ins, you can continue to use your trusted security and backup solutions, and monitor and manage them from the centralised RG System SaaS platform", says Laurent Cauwel, Team Lead DSD FR and partner. "This ensures that the connection with your local vendor remains intact, for example for product and sales support."

RG System's all-in-one IT management platform allows you to manage and protect an entire company's IT infrastructure with a single, easy-to-use and well-organised dashboard. The multi-tenant dashboard is accessible via web browser and provides real-time notifications, data and settings, so you can remotely monitor and manage all IT infrastructures.

"With RG System's IT management solution, our partners can differentiate themselves with a high value-added service. A service that enables them to facilitate the entire process of managing and securing their customers' IT infrastructure", explains Laurent Cauwel.

"For RG System, this new partnership represents a great opportunity for growth in EMEA, which is one of our priorities for 2020", explains Grégory Cladera, CEO of RG System. "We are convinced that our centralised IT Management platform will enable DSD Europe's MSP partners to add a new high value-added offer to their service portfolio, and thus to serve more efficiently the end customers whose IT infrastructure they manage. All in all, a very promising partnership."

Broadliner Exertis has announced the availability of the Epson Print365 managed print solution for its UK and Ireland resellers. Each Epson Print365 package includes a productive, low energy Workforce Pro business inkjet printer, automated supply delivery, and full on-site service and support.

Al Coyne, Exertis print general manager, said: “the demand for managed print services continues to rise and the Epson Print365 proposition provides a simple solution for resellers that want to offer their customers cost-effective, peace of mind printing and support within a fixed, all-inclusive, monthly fee. This is a great opportunity for a reseller to provide a print solution for any size of company that wants a combination of great printing but low energy consumption, taking advantage of Epson’s renowned stance on sustainability.”

The Epson Workforce Pro range is suitable for small to medium or medium to large workgroups and includes WorkForce RIPS (Replaceable Ink Pack System) which comes with up to 86,000 pages worth of ink. Epson continues to lead the industry shift from laser to business inkjet printing with lower TCO (total cost of ownership) from high ink yields, low energy user and reduced user intervention. The Epson Print365 solution gives customers full control and visibility of printing cost and removes the headache out of managing it.

Ian Keene, Epson sales manager, said: “we are delighted that Exertis can offer our Epson Print365 solution to their wide range of resellers, particularly in the SME sector where this proposition has become more popular for businesses that want easy to use printers that offer improved document security and lower environmental impact. Access to our full range of business inkjet devices, proven Epson support and the ability to offer a hassle-free managed solution to customers are great reasons for resellers to take advantage of Print365. In addition, the eco messaging deriving from our energy efficient devices is an increasingly influential message for resellers when selling our products, offering them a differentiated approach.”

Aurelius Equity Opportunities has acquired Distrelec and Nedis businesses from Dätwyler Group, which is listed on the Swiss stock exchange. With a total of about 850 employees the acquired business units generate annual revenues of approximately €275m. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price and the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

Distrelec, headquartered in Manchester (UK) and Nänikon (CH), is a leading B2B distributor of electronic and technical components with approximately 600 employees. Beyond its main markets of Switzerland and Sweden, the company also has a strong market presence in 15 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland). Its product portfolio has a significant focus on MRO components and targets B2B customers.

Nedis, headquartered in s’Hertogenbosch (NL) is a wholesaler for electronic products. With approximately 250 employees. Nedis is a wholesaler of electronic products marketed under the Nedis brand especially in the Netherlands, France and Scandinavia. Nedis has a physical presence in Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The company has already been operationally realigned in the past by several initiatives, amongst them a complete rebranding in 2018. This strategy shall be continued to further position Nedis as a successful category manager in the European market.

Aurelius will support the acquired businesses, both financially and operationally to ensure a seamless transition after the carve-out from Dätwyler Group. It is our aim to establish them as successful standalone companies and bring them on a sustainable growth path. The transaction perfectly fits into the Aurelius mid-market investment focus.

HTC VIVE, a leader in premium virtual reality, today announced an agreement with British broadliner Westcoast to deliver its virtual reality (VR) products to enterprise resellers. Through the agreement, resellers will have access to HTC VIVE's VR offerings designed for markets including architecture, construction and engineering; product design; healthcare and medicine; and education.

"VR has the potential to revolutionise the enterprise workplace – with implications for everything from product development, to employee training, to customer experiences", said Daniel O'Brien, General Manager Americas, HTC VIVE.

Graham Wheeler, General Manager for Europe, further added: "Westcoast strive for excellence in everything they do, so they’re the perfect partners to help us meet increasing demand for enterprise VR solutions."

HTC VIVE products available through Westcoast include:

VIVE Focus Plus, the newest premium VR standalone headset for enterprise customers. The new Focus Plus brings users more immersive experiences, greater comfort for extended VR sessions, and new fresnel lenses to enhance visual clearness.

VIVE Pro, VR solutions with the potential to shape the future of product design and development from ideas to production. These solutions are compatible with the other leading 3D, PLM and visualisation software in the market.

VIVE Pro Eye, a VR headset built with integrated eye tracking, giving users new levels of accessibility, including gaze-oriented menu navigation. Additionally, it allows businesses and developers to gather more data about their training environments and offer product design unprecedented levels of feedback.

VIVE Cosmos, a smaller, lighter and more flexible VR headset, built for a plug and play audience. It removes the need for external sensors, making it ideal for workers on the go.

VIVE Wireless Adapter, an add-on that helps turn the VIVE Pro, VIVE Pro Eye or VIVE Cosmos into an untethered and more flexible VR experience.

Alex Tatham, Managing Director at Westcoast, added: “we’re extremely excited about working with HTC VIVE to bring their VR solutions to the enterprise market. They offer a range of applications for a wide variety of business environments – and given our relationships with partners in almost every sector, we believe we’re well placed to help businesses take advantage of the benefits of VR. HTC VIVE solutions are at the leading edge of enterprise technology, and they will empower business users to unlock a deeper level of innovation and productivity.”

Russian network and security VAD RRC and network vendor TP-Link have signed a partnership agreement. Under the agreement, RRC will act as a project distributor of TP-Link in Russia, as well as a distributor of solutions for small and medium businesses.

TP-Link is well known in Russia as a provider of Wi-Fi routers for home and office and one of the largest manufacturers of network equipment for small and medium businesses.

For more than twenty years the company has been providing Internet access to millions of people in 170 countries. For the last eight years it has been ranked number one in the world in sales of consumer WLAN devices. TP-Link solutions have earned the trust of consumers through high reliability, low cost and easy deployment.

"Our joint work will be aimed at attracting and developing a partner channel among companies involved in the sale of equipment and integration services, as well as those with experience in implementing projects to build broadband and wireless data transmission networks for customers from small and medium-sized businesses. We hope for long-term partnership relations with TP-Link and are confident that the new cooperation will open wide prospects for our business development", said Alexey Mezhevoy, director of the Unified Communications department of RRC.

"A wide and developed partner network, optimised delivery system, prompt customer support are the key factors that determined RRC's choice as a distributor of TP-Link project and SMB solutions in Russia. We hope that RRC will be able to expand its product portfolio with modern and cost-effective TP-Link solutions and offer customers from the small and medium business segment the most complete range of network equipment to meet their needs", said Alexey Usachev, Head of Project Management at TP-Link Russia.

Resellers are more optimistic about the coming 12 months than they were a year ago and backed by robust growth in 2019, are driving investment in both traditional and emerging product categories such as IoT, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.

The analyst’s annual ChannelWatch report is based on the results of a survey of over 6,500 resellers across UK & Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Czechia, Baltics, Russia, Turkey and South Africa.

It found that while 3.4% growth in distribution in the nine months ended 30 September 2019 was slower than the previous year’s figure of 6.7%, there’s great momentum in the industry, with more new resellers coming into the market than those who are leaving in virtually every country.

Channel businesses are both sticking with what they know, such as product areas including PCs and monitors, and are also investing in new technologies including smart home and the hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) that’s driving datacentre growth.

For the first time, the ChannelWatch report breaks down respondents into B2B and B2C resellers:

for B2B, the top areas of investment over the coming 12 years are: cloud (49%), networking (46%), cybersecurity (38%), workplace optimisation (31%), datacentre solutions (24%), and IoT (18%).in the B2C space it was PCs (57%), software (39%), storage (37%), components (36%) and printers (36%). PCs remain a key area of growth despite a considerable drop in the number of units sold across all countries except for Germany. This is because of a focus on higher-end SKUs like gaming PCs and ultra-light/portable models.

“Although B2B resellers expressed a more positive opinion of the coming year than B2C resellers, sentiment overall has strengthened considerably overall across the region, driven by a sharp increase in optimism in the UK and Germany. This is despite continued Brexit-related uncertainty and slowing GDP in Germany”, said Adam Simon, Global MD of CONTEXT. “It appears that many resellers experienced far higher growth last year than the headline figure for revenues in the distribution channel. We believe this is due to corporate digital transformation efforts, investments in cloud and IoT as well as classic drivers like the Windows 10 upgrade.”

Indian network, security and storage VAD iValue InfoSolutions has partnered with Israeli professional cybersecurity solutions provider Morphisec to offer protection across Advanced Endpoint, Virtual Desktop, Cloud Workload and Servers. This move is line with strengthening their commitment to protecting and transforming digital assets of organisations across industries such as manufacturing, technology, healthcare, etc.

iValue has maintained to stay ahead in the value chain by consistently partnering with the right mix of popular and niche technology providers thus helping customers in their digital transformation journey. Morphisec is the latest entrant into iValue’s compelling and complementing offerings in the Data, Network and Application Management and Protection space.

Morphisec uses the power of Moving Target Defence, a wholly innovative approach to prevent cyber-attacks and threats. Morphisec reduces organisation’s risk exposure without affecting business productivity or creating work for the security team. Moving Target Defence applies across attack vectors and threat types – no need for indicators, no waiting for patches or updates.

Morphisec solutions deliver operationally simple, proactive prevention unbound by the limits of detection and prediction. They protect businesses around the globe from the most dangerous and sophisticated cyberattacks immediately, efficiently and absolutely.

“iValue is excited to partner with Morphisec who is transforming endpoint security through pioneering Moving Target Defense”, said Subodh Anchan, VP Alliance for iValue InfoSolutions. “Their solutions will protect customers from the most sophisticated cyberattacks efficiently. iValue’s ecosystem will relish Morphisec’s product quality, user friendly software, excellent support and high security.”

“iValue has been a force in the markets they operate, and it gives us immense pleasure to be associated with a technology enabler who boasts of a rich eco-system. iValue’s distinctive industry focused GTM strategies augers perfectly with our product roadmap”, said Ajit Pillai, Managing Director India & SAARC for Morphisec. “We look forward to great opportunities working together and enhance our market position in the forthcoming years through this association with iValue.”

The Advanced Solutions division of broadliner Tech Data has inked a distribution deal with security vendor Barracuda Networks. This agreement enables Barracuda Networks to join the range of products, solutions and services offered by the Advanced Solutions division of Tech Data, and to have access to its 14,000 local resellers.

Initially, Tech Data France will offer its partners Barracuda Networks' Azure Cloud Protection, Cloud Generation Firewall, WAF, WAFaaS, Cloud Security Guardian and Total Email Protection for Office 365 solutions. In a second phase, the distributor will integrate Barracuda Networks' data backup, archiving, physical firewall and physical Email Security Gateway appliance offerings.

"We are proud to be part of the Tech Data ecosystem. This agreement will enable us to significantly strengthen our presence in the French market. Barracuda Networks intends to play a central role in securing the Cloud Azure environment in France. Tech Data is an additional boost that confirms our ambitions", said Eric Heddeland, Vice President South EMEA at Barracuda Networks.

"The technologies developed by Barracuda Networks are at the forefront of the fight against the threats and malware that affect more and more businesses today. We are delighted to integrate Barracuda Networks' solutions into our ecosystem to provide reliable and proven technology to all cloud professionals", added Patrick Robert, Director of Software and New IT Technologies at Tech Data France.

Barracuda Networks develops simple, high-performance security solutions designed to control and secure access, data and applications for businesses. The leading provider of security solutions offers a complete cloud-compatible offering that can be deployed as physical or virtual appliances in cloud and hybrid environments.

The merger of ALSO Polska and Roseville Investments, the successor company of ABC Data, is finalised. From now on the business operations of the two ALSO Holding companies will be conducted solely by ALSO Polska. With the completion of this step the newly formed company is one of the leading technology providers and IT suppliers in Poland. "Integration of the two organisations will strengthen ALSO's position in Poland", says Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO. "With a powerful, committed and highly competent management team at the start, we have laid the foundations to develop new perspectives for the dynamic growth of our business partners and our own organization. Operating as one company, ALSO Polska is now able to offer its customers and partners a substantially enlarged range of business and technological solutions that until now were not available on such a scale in Poland."

Supply, Solution and Services: The newly formed organization will participate in ALSO's 3S business models and its sophisticated IoT, virtualisation, cybersecurity and 3D printing platforms. At the same time InterLink, the established purchase management platform, will remain in place and the ALSO Web shop platform will continue to be available. InterLink has already been integrated into ALSO's SAP system, supporting commercial, warehouse and accounting processes. At the same time all customers will now gain access to the ALSO Cloud Marketplace (ACMP), a technologically advanced cloud-based platform offering IT services in PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), WaaS (Workplace-as-a-Service) and DaaS (Device-as-a- Service) modes.

The Polish organization will also gain access to ALSO's European Centers of Competence to provide its customers with competitive offerings and its vendors and suppliers with a broad value proposition.

French digital transformation company Atos has announced the signature of a new go-to-market agreement with broadliner Ingram Micro.

The new US distribution alliance expands Atos’ reach, and provides Ingram Micro channel partners access to its leading cybersecurity solutions including Atos Evidian portfolio of identity and access management products designed to secure and manage access to hybrid cloud environments. It will expand to include the portfolio of Atos cybersecurity products which provide data encryption at rest and in-motion as well as management of trusted digital identities.

“We are excited to collaborate with Ingram Micro and bring our cybersecurity products to customers in the United States. With Ingram Micro’s strong distribution network in security, we are confident to deliver on our strategy to strengthen our leadership in digital transformation”, says Alexis Caurette, VP, Head of cybersecurity products at Atos.

“This agreement marks the first major distribution agreement for Atos North America and is an important step to expand our global channel strategy and partner ecosystem”, says Vincent Demange, SVP, Global Alliances & Channels at Atos.

“We are delighted to work with Atos and be among the first to offer its cybersecurity products in the US”, says Eric Kohl, VP, Security at Ingram Micro. “Cybersecurity is top of mind within the U.S. channel and businesses nationwide, making it a great time for Atos to bring to market its end-to-end security solutions for both on premise and cloud environments.”

Atos is a global leader in cybersecurity, with 5000 security experts, 14 Security Operations Centres worldwide and a full range of cybersecurity products holding the highest certifications available on the market. The new agreement with Ingram Micro is effective immediately and will include training sessions to enable Ingram Micro channel partners to rapidly on-board the Atos portfolio and bring the benefits of cybersecurity products to their customers of all sizes.

French network and security VAD Exclusive Networks has appointed four new Senior Vice Presidents to complement its existing global leadership team. The appointments of Gerard Allison (SVP, EMEA), Brad Gray (SVP, APAC), Scott Lewis (SVP, Americas) and Barrie Desmond (SVP Marketing & Communications) will provide strategic in-theatre leadership, supporting the company’s continuing success in offering unique local and global value, whilst driving future growth through market leading technologies, innovative services, and disruptive business models, creating value at scale for both vendors and channel partners alike.

“Gerard, Brad, Scott and Barrie are highly experienced operators who will make a valuable contribution to our business in 2020 and beyond”, said Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Networks. “Their arrival coincides with an exciting period of business transformation and innovation as we continue to scale-up and optimise our operational processes for renewed growth in disruptive service offerings, product portfolios and business models.”

Gerard Allison is a highly experienced senior executive with a 30+ year track record of building successful teams in EMEA, working at vendors such as Juniper Networks and, most recently, Gigamon. His extensive expertise and knowledge of the IT and security markets, commercial astuteness, entrepreneurial vision, relationship building and management skills, brings a wealth of experience to the EMEA business.

Brad Gray is a highly experienced senior executive with a 25+ year track record of building successful teams in APAC at vendors such as Juniper Networks, Polycom and, most recently, SAP. Having resided for 20 years in Singapore and for 3 years previously in Indonesia, Brad’s cultural, technological and commercial insights within the region brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the APAC business. His appointment comes as the former ‘Asia’ and ‘Pacific’ regions of Exclusive Networks combine as a single ‘APAC’ region.

Scott Lewis is a highly experienced senior executive with a 25+ year track record of regional sales and operations leadership in the Americas, having spent nearly 20 years in the cybersecurity sector working at vendors such as Blue Coat and IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS). Scott joins Exclusive from Fortinet where he spent the last 7 years leading its US Enterprise sales organisation and most recently its US West sales teams.

Barrie Desmond returns to Exclusive following a 12 month sabbatical having previously spent 7 years as Group Marketing Director and most recently as Chief Operations Officer. Barrie has over 30 years experience in marketing, communications and business development, having held senior management roles within channel and vendor organisations, with specialist knowledge and expertise in disruptive technologies and services in cybersecurity and cloud.

The new SVPs bring a wealth of expertise and experience to Exclusive Networks having held senior regional leadership roles at leading global channel and vendor organisations. Each report to Andy Travers, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing:

Broadliner Exertis has unveiled a supplier agreement with Tenda, a leading provider of easy to install and affordable networking solutions. Tenda products include home and business networking, switches, routers, powerline and extenders.

Dan Bieny, Exertis commercial manager for Networking & Smart Tech, said: “Tenda is recognised for delivering quality networking products at competitive prices that are particularly relevant for homeowners and small businesses wanting to take advantage of the growing range of smart devices on the market. Mesh technology is growing in popularity as a viable alternative for connecting multiple devices as the IoT market continues to increase both on a consumer and industrial level. Tenda has excelled with their performance in the mesh market over the last two years and has an extremely attractive offering for consumers and resellers.”

Tenda provides a range of marketing support services through its partner programme which will be available to Exertis’ customers.

Jamie Plumridge, Tenda commercial director for Western Europe, said: “our new partnership agreement between Tenda and Exertis will further enable us to accelerate our growth plans throughout 2020 and beyond. Their expertise and breadth of knowledge across networking technologies coupled with their relationships across multi-industry sectors makes them the perfect distribution partner for Tenda’s continued, ambitious, growth plans in the UK.”

The wireless mesh network market is estimated to grow by 15 per cent CAGR to reach a valuation of €10.5b by 2026 according to Market Research Future (MRFR).

Russian software and cloud specialist Axoft has appointed former sales director Vyacheslav Barkhatov as its new CEO, replacing Mikhail Pribochiy.

Over the past 10 years, Axoft under the management of M. Priborchiy managed to show positive business dynamics from 18 to 25% per year, which is higher than the IT market, and transformed into a service IT distributor. In 2019, Axoft was ranked first in the CRN/RE business edition in two categories at once: "Best IT Software Distributor" and "Best IT Distributor of Information Security Systems". This year the company entered the TOP 15 of "The largest providers of SaaS solutions" according to CNews Analytics, just three years after the launch of the cloud direction AxoftCloud.

The Axoft team headed by its new CEO, Vyacheslav Varkhatov, will continue to work on improving the efficiency and predictability of business, strengthening the company's service capabilities, and developing key areas for the market: cyber security, Cloud, import substitution, IT infrastructure, OpenSource and DevOps practices. The strategy of dividing the business into project and transactional by increasing the level of business automation based on Axoft Platform will be consistently implemented. In addition, the team plans to use 15 years of experience in developing a partner IT channel in Russia and the EECA region* to scale business in non-CIS countries. Currently the company is present in 9 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In the coming years, Axoft intends to open several offices in Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Vyacheslav Barkhatov joined the Omsk team of Axoft in 2007 as a sales manager, in 2008 he headed the local office. In 2011 he was invited to the Moscow office as Sales Director and until today he has successfully held this position.

"It's an honour to run a company like Axoft. I am more than anyone else interested in ensuring the continuity of the ideas and values that Mikhail has laid down over the past 10 years, and which I sincerely share. And our task is precisely formulated and fixed as the company's mission - to be the best distribution partner for all participants of the IT market. Together we will pursue this, of course, ambitious goal", comments Vyacheslav Barkhatov on his appointment.

Mikhail has served as CEO of Axoft since late 2009. For the first 5 years Mikhail's tasks were to build a sustainable and growing business in Russia and the EECA region. Later on, his attention was focused on strengthening the service model of IT distribution, including the development of cloud distribution and expanding technical competencies, as well as entering foreign markets. Prior to joining Axoft, Mikhail had many years of experience in the IT sphere, in government agencies in the field of security, for the system integrator "IT Information Technologies" and later for Associates Distribution, then the exclusive distributor of Trend Micro in Russia and the CIS, before joining Axoft as General Manager.

Mobile accessory vendor Braven, a Zagg company, has entered the Norwegian market through a distribution deal with the mobility division of broadliner Ingram Micro.

Braven is known for rugged and portable audio products. They combine a unique style with the latest technology to produce premium Bluetooth speakers and headphones for real adventurers. Founded in 2011, Braven focuses on sound quality, versatility and superior functions has rapidly transformed the brand into one of the trash-growing brands in its category.

"We are pleased to partner with Ingram Micro for the launch of Braven in Scandinavia. They have been an excellent partner for other Zagg brands for several years and has special expertise in sound categories", says Gabriel Kjellén, Country Manager Nordics for Zagg.

Thanks to a durable, impact-resistant and waterproof design, Braven speakers provide crisp sound while tackling wet environments or environments with mud and sand. Braven new speakers have unrivaled, rugged durability combined with Bluetooth audio. Braven earphones Flye Sport is a necessity for all music-loving adventurers. Designed by a team of outdoor lovers, the earphones have been tested in the Rocky Mountains to ensure that they can withstand even the most demanding and desert adventure. All these products are available through Ingram Micro's webshop.

"Braven portable Bluetooth speakers and earpieces have designed by audio experts, for sound quality and durability. Braven trademark refers to outdoor life style that is so popular in Scandinavia and we are convinced that with Ingram Micro's help, we can make a lot more conscious of what robust sound is all about and enhance their outdoor adventures with music", concludes Gabriel.

Security specialist NIT, an Ingram Micro Company, has signed a distribution agreement with Fibrenetix, a manufacturer of video-optimised servers and storage solutions.

With this agreement, NIT can now make the Fibrenetix product portfolio available to its customers throughout the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. NIT’s latest offering from Fibrenetix includes high performance servers and storage solutions with European quality, scalability and reliability, as well as a unique software solution for Smart Vehicle Management (SVMS), comprising the supply of small form factor vehicle mounted ruggedised Servers.

“We believe Fibrenetix has a strong future in the META region and together, we expect to build scalable solutions to reduce the overall cost for the end user”, said Bassel Fakir, Managing Director of NIT. “Fibrenetix stands out as something different, especially with their new mobility platform and other new innovative technologies.”

“NIT has an excellent reputation with a significant industry expertise in the region and we are pleased to collaborate together to meet the ever-growing demand for data and video storage in the surveillance market”, said Fibrenetix CEO Jes Nagel. “Fibrenetix is currently growing at a double-digit rate and to sustain this and build an infrastructure that supports this high growth rate, we need to work closely with companies like NIT.”

With a successful partnership for over 20 years Clearswift and Greek security VAD Inter Engineering have expanded their cooperation and as such Inter Engineering has taken the responsibility of Clearswift distribution coverage of the Netherlands. Inter Engineering enjoys a wealth of Clearswift expertise. The company’s business model is focused on the channel and the provisioning of high quality commercial and technical support to partners and end-customers. Presales and after sales. It has been doing that with success in a large region for all those years. During 2019 Inter Engineering has been busy expanding the Dutch partner channel and supporting existing customers. The first fruits of these efforts are starting to show. The activities also included Clearswift’s November partner networking event in Amsterdam. Clearswift was also present as sponsor at the eCrime 2019 summit in the same city on December 3. “We are passionate about Clearswift and the products and we’re proud to represent Clearswift also in the Netherlands”, comments Josmaarten Swinkels, Inter Engineering’s CEO. “For 2020 we intend to intensify our activities providing success to the partners and Clearswift Cybersecurity to their customers.”

Sales of desktop monitors through Western Europe distributors grew in early Q4 2019 following the trend begun in the earlier three quarters of the year. Sales were once again driven by higher demand in consumer channels, according to data published by CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.

In the first month of the quarter, combined sales of business- and consumer-targeted monitors were up by +7% year-on-year. While Q3 saw increased sales of business models alone, sales in both segments were up in October and, as expected, overall growth was driven mainly by increased sales to consumer etail and retail.

“Historically, November – which includes the weeks leading up to Black Friday – has been a very strong month for consumer monitors”, said Howard Davies, CEO & co-founder at CONTEXT. “Last year, however, sales had already started to pick up in October, and distributors have seen the same thing happen this year. Sales to consumer channels in Germany, UK, Spain and France were +30% higher than in September.”

In Germany, month-on-month sales grew by over 60% in October. However, sales were lower than in 2018 (falling by -1%) showing that the market is slowing down. It is interesting to note that in October revenues from sales to consumer etail again reached their highest yet market share of over 30% and are now similar to those generated by sales to SMB resellers.

This year has also seen a different trend in terms of pricing. Last year, there was an increase in the number of €200–€250 models distributors sold to consumer channels whereas, this year, sales have been driven by increasing sales of cheaper 59,7, 55,9 and 54,6 cm models costing less than €200.

“While it is still expected that Q4 volume sales will be strong (with most of the demand being in October and November), the gradual slow down in the monitor market will trigger more aggressive behaviour from vendors – and any increased price competition may affect this year’s desktop monitor revenues”, added Howard Davies.

Biamp, a supplier of professional audio and video solutions based in Beaverton (USA), announced a new streamlined European distribution model to strengthen the company's sales, support, and product distribution in the region. With a continued focus on rapid investment and expansion across Europe, Biamp has transitioned to either a sole distributor or dealer-direct distribution system to better support specific countries throughout Europe.

The following sole distributors have been selected for key regions:

Additionally, in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom, Biamp will be transitioning to a dealer-direct distribution model, which will enhance the company's ability to support customers and drive growth in those markets.

"We are thrilled to partner with this select group of distributors who offer regional expertise and strategic alignment with our expanded European operations", said Rashid Skaf, Biamp President, CEO, and Co-chairman. "We look forward to working closely with these partners to drive growth and enhance operations throughout the region."

Following the recent opening of the company's new European headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium, and the acquisition of Apart Audio and Community Loudspeakers, Biamp's new European distribution model will enable the company to more aggressively pursue opportunities in all target geographies and vertical markets: corporate, food service and hospitality, retail, large venues, education, religion, sports and leisure, and outdoor applications.

"By appointing a single distributor that can cover Biamp's full product portfolio — including Apart retail and hospitality loudspeakers, Community large venue loudspeakers, and Cambridge sound management solutions — our customers get a single point of contact for better service, complete solutions, and an exceptional experience", said Kris Vermuyten, General Manager, Biamp Europe.

With this association, Satcom Infotech will be strengthening GajShield’s presence by identifying and appointing their resources and develop a partner ecosystem in India with the help of their registered partners and existing channel network. Satcom Infotech, one of the strongest distributors for Firewall Solutions aims to provide value addition with their previous experience in distributing similar solution in India.

Satcom Infotech’s partners will be able to offer their customers GajShield’s next generation firewall and other security solutions working on subscription-based model across India, penetrating the market even further. This engagement will benefit customers by bringing GajShield’s top of the line security solutions enjoyed by their international clients to the Indian market in a much efficient and scalable way. This will help in revamping network security for a lot of customers by offering best of network security solution for a better and a stronger secured network. GajShield Firewall are available as a platform for network security in the range of Physical Hardware and Virtually-Deployable configurations across both Public and Private Cloud providing comprehensive network security to Small, Medium, Large enterprises and Data Centers with impressive features like context-based security, Data Leak Prevention Solution, Cloud Security, Security for Roaming users, CASB, UEBA, Centralised Management System, Email Security etc. aiming to provide complete security solutions with the help of futuristic technologies like the newly developed Contextual Intelligence Engine for visibility to the deepest possible layer, stronger than ever GajShield Threat Lab for protection against threats and more for securing organisational networks.

Sonit Jain, Founder and CEO of GajShield Infotech, said: “Satcom Infotech’s long years of experience in distribution, robust business infrastructure, reach, and holistic approach along with GajShield’s domain expertise in network security will benefit and empower organisations in various industries across India.”

Vinod Kumar, CEO of Satcom Infotech, said: “Gajshield has earned the trust of the IT channel.We have tied up with Gajshield Infotech to enhance our offerings in the Network Securityspace by adding the best of Gateway DLP and other network security solution to our portfolio. Jointly with GajShield, we will be able to offer its ‘make in India’ solutions to partners catering to the Govt and various other sectors.”

SolarWinds MSP has extended its partnership with Swiss security VAD Infinigate to the French market. Infinigate France will distribute SolarWinds MSP products, including SolarWinds Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), to its MSP customers. This new partnership will raise awareness of the SolarWinds MSP portfolio and enhance Infinigate's existing security offerings, helping IT professionals address today's IT challenges.

"At Infinigate France, we help resellers and IT service providers to grow their services business, generating consistent gross profits through consulting services, model contracts, scripts and, of course, a billing platform. SolarWinds MSP offers the most comprehensive set of tools available to effectively secure, maintain and improve reseller IT operations from a single dashboard", said Stéphanie Kayser, Managing Director of Infinigate France.

"Infinigate France has a great deal of experience in this region and we are delighted to be working with them to further strengthen our presence in France", said Johannes Kamleitner, VP Global Channel Sales, SolarWinds MSP. "Our distribution network is a key pillar of our international strategy and with its strong focus on IT security and MSP support capabilities, Infinigate is an excellent partner for us."

Danish multispecialist EET Europarts has partnered with QDOS, which among other things produces protective screens and cases for both phones and tablets. Most recently, QDOS launched a series of environmental cases, made from 100% biodegradable material: innovative products which foremost interested EET.

Since the overall service life of smartphones has increased significantly in recent years, the consumption of covers increased correspondingly. Often passed smartphones in the family, and the need for covers with a personal touch increases when the phone changes hands across generations. At a time when we more than ever brands a global environmental pressure, therefore, there is also tougher demands on the way we produce, and it applies especially electronics and accessories.

QDOS is one of the accessory manufacturers who have understood the importance of making their products environmentally friendly, why they this year have launched their first cases developed in a 100% biodegradable material. The new series responds to a demand in the market, as EET Welcomes now to live.

"In addition to QDOS generally known to produce both protective glasses and cases of extremely high quality, then tip the balance for us was that they now also have gone into producing products with a special environmental focus. There is no doubt that we are seeing a general increase in demand for more environmentally friendly products, and with the signing of the cooperation with QDOS we now have the opportunity to meet this demand in the market", says Allan Friis, Sales Director, Retail at EET Europarts.

QDOS is also happy about the newly formed partnership, which gives the company access to distribution throughout the Nordic and Baltic countries, thanks to EET offices in Finland, Norway and Sweden. "We are very pleased to start cooperation with EET Europarts. The combination of the unique product range of high quality developed by QDOS and EET's extensive distribution network built up over many years makes us fully confident that together we can create a huge success", says Susan Lazareff, Co-founder of QDOS.

Broadliner Exertis has appointed James Goddard to sales and commercial director for its MTR subsidiary, reporting to Simon Woodman, Exertis mobile solutions director. Goddard will have overall responsibility for the management of MTR, a service and solutions provider that specialises in extending the lifecycle of mobiles and tablet devices.

“James is the ideal candidate to take the helm at MTR, having spent more than six years at the company, rapidly rising through the management ranks due to his commercial acumen and expertise in the 2nd lifecycle market. MTR is a key part of our business offering a refurbishment and repair service for major mobile players as well as supporting Exertis with our DaaS and corporate mobile trade-in programmes. James has clearly showed that he has the leadership qualities to drive the business forward”, said Woodman.

With almost 20 years’ experience within the service and repair network, MTR’s team of highly trained technicians offer a complete repair and refurbishment process including data cleansing and when required an environmentally friendly disposal service. The company is an approved repair centre for Samsung.

“I am delighted to take on the challenge. We have an excellent foundation to build on and with the support and opportunities provided by Exertis, it’s an exciting time ahead. MTR has an entrepreneurial spirit, great technicians and a strong environmental philosophy which supports the circular economy through our innovative programmes that add value to our customers”, said Goddard.

The IT channel should be braced for much weaker performance in the PC market in 2020, with year-on-year sales likely to turn negative in the second half of the year, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.

Analysing data collected from vendors, resellers and distributors, CONTEXT believes strong commercial demand for new hardware over the past year will gradually weaken after the January 2020 end-of-support deadline for Windows 7. Continued Intel CPU supply problems will compound these growth challenges for channel players next year.

Unfortunately, the consumer market is unlikely to see enough growth to compensate for this slump on the business side, with demand for mainstream desktop and notebook systems set to remain weak.

However, there are some positives for the year ahead: continued digital transformation efforts by organisations will spur investment in new machines, especially high-performance systems to handle data analytics and design applications.

Although this won’t prevent a decline in volumes it will help to drive up average prices and therefore margins.

On the consumer side, demand for thin and light notebooks, Chromebooks and gaming PCs is likely to stay strong, with new form factors like high-performance creator PCs also set to prove attractive to home users.

This will also push up average selling prices to counter the softer volume performance of mainstream machines.

“In many ways it was a tale of two markets in 2019 with strong demand in the business sector while consumers decided to spend their money elsewhere”, said Marie-Christine Pygott at CONTEXT. “Although commercial demand will weaken after January as consumer sales remain focused around a small number of segments, there is optimism for the year ahead. Digital growth projects are set to continue apace for enterprises in 2020, driving up demand for high-end PCs, while new form factors could join the current crop of segments on consumer wish-lists, helping to improve channel margins.”

British broadliner Westcoast has extended its partnership with Samsung with the appointment of the full portfolio of large format screens and displays.

“I couldn’t be more delighted”, commented Alex Tatham, Westcoast’s Managing Director. “It’s something that our team have been working on for some time and whilst we have maintained a relationship in the past, Westcoast’s outstanding growth in B2B commercial business to UK and Irish resellers was attractive to Samsung’s team. We will be focusing our efforts around enabling the wide range of Westcoast’s commercial customers to deliver market leading display technology into the many corporate customers that have struggled to compete with AV specialists in the past – our role is to enable them to compete. Our new facility in Andover has provided the capability to store and deliver to site cost effectively. And the energy that Westcoast have shown has clearly impressed Samsung.”

Damon Crowhurst, Display Head, Samsung Electronics UK, added: “in a market that has experienced consolidation over the past few years, it became imperative that we sought a third distributor for our Signage line-up of displays, to complement the excellent work that Midwich and Exertis do for us already. Westcoast and Samsung have long had a strong and established relationship across the wider business, and knowing the investment they are putting into building out their signage team, we are excited and confident of an exciting 2020 together.”

Westcoast’s contract will be product managed by Richard Carr, Displays Business Manager: He says: “we have recruited specialist sales staff to overlay the entire business, but this is technology that is ever more prevalent, and all Westcoast customers will be enabled. We are proud to represent Samsung in their drive for increased breadth and a wider access to their outstanding technology.”

Existing customers should engage with their Westcoast account managers with new customers being handled by the Display Specialist team.

“There are no restrictions where we might sell Samsung displays but our system integrator team, corporate reseller and services teams will be busy”, added Alex. “It’s an early Christmas present from Samsung – and one that Westcoast will unwrap with glee!”

Broadliner Tech Data has added G Suite to its portfolio of cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions in Europe. Through this agreement, partners can acquire and manage subscriptions to G Suite solutions through Tech Data’s StreamOne Cloud Marketplace, which enables the provisioning and management of subscriptions on behalf of the end customer. G Suite is composed of a set of intelligent apps – Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, Hangouts and more – designed with real-time collaboration and machine intelligence to bring people together and help them work smarter and safer. The fully integrated solution includes flexible storage options, mobile device management and 24/7 live support and is compatible with other workplace platforms like Microsoft Office. Tech Data will support adoption of G Suite among its customers by embedding the offering into its Cloud Practice Builder programs. These partner transformation programs provide a clearly structured four-step journey that enables partners to rapidly and affordably build a specialist next-generation cloud practice. Practice Builder programs start with assessment to understand the partners’ current competencies and then offers a defined process to build the capabilities and domain expertise needed to take cloud solutions to market, access new opportunities and accelerate digital transformation. “G Suite represents a great addition to Tech Data’s comprehensive portfolio of SaaS solutions and enables us to offer an outstanding choice when it comes to the leading players in the cloud market”, said Denis Fouquet, vice president, software and cloud Europe for Tech Data. “G Suite provides a low-cost, user-friendly, secure and reliable collaboration solution with licensing models adapted to the varying needs of SMBs and large enterprises. The combination of StreamOne and our value-added partner transformation methodology Practice Builder will enable our partners to quickly accelerate this offering.” “We are thrilled to partner with Tech Data, as our collaboration will help partners to grow their Google Cloud practices and will bring G Suite to more customers across the mid-market and SMB segments,” said Kevin O’Kane, Managing Director, Partnerships, Google Cloud. “By working with organisations like Tech Data, we are able to offer more comprehensive support such as training and deployment services to customers in their digital transformations.” Tech Data is able to offer G Suite on top of a wider range of Google Cloud solutions, such as Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, Chrome Education Upgrade and Hangouts Meet hardware solutions. Tech Data customers in France and the United Kingdom are able to acquire G Suite since mid-December; other countries in the region will follow in a phased approach in the coming months.

Smartsheet, the platform for enterprise achievement, has unveiled a partnership with British software specialist QBS Distribution. With a primary focus on the UK market, QBS Distribution will deliver Smartsheet’s full product portfolio in addition to technical, pre- and post-sales support. The partnership builds on the launch of its channel program, Smartsheet Aligned, announced at the company’s global customer conference in October.

Smartsheet enables true collaboration and transparency across an organization by helping teams focus on the work that matters most. The platform transforms the way companies plan, capture, manage, automate, and report on work to move faster, drive innovation, and achieve more. Smartsheet currently serves more than 82,000 customers across 190 countries.

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For over 30 years, QBS Distribution has a proven track record of delivering software to thousands of enterprises and was recently recognised by CRN as one of the 25 largest technology distributors in the UK. Through this partnership, QBS Distribution will extend the reach of the Smartsheet platform to serve a growing number of U.K. customers, appointing John Pochettino as a dedicated product champion and undertaking an extensive pan-European marketing campaign.

The collaborative work management market is quickly growing as these applications have become a critical resource for digital transformation initiatives. Smartsheet partners are tapping into this market demand to extend their reach beyond IT to address challenges across other business functions such as human resources, marketing, legal and finance. Coupled with empowering the delivery of professional services to support customer implementations, partners can achieve better outcomes, drive profitability and break into new markets previously not possible.

To support the expansion of Smartsheet Aligned, the company has appointed experienced channel manager, Andreas Bansen, to lead recruitment and enablement initiatives across several markets including the U.K. and Ireland. Based in London, Bansen will be responsible for driving high-value partnerships with firms that have a well-developed core expertise in particular use cases or verticals.

“There’s a massive opportunity for Smartsheet and our partners in this region, with significant demand coming from both partners interested in joining our program and customers looking for high-value services delivered by local providers”, said Mike Arntz, Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations at Smartsheet. “Our partnership with QBS Distribution not only plays an important role in our growth into new verticals and geographies, but it upholds our commitment to providing our shared customers with a market leading, enterprise-grade platform.”

Building on this, Andreas Bansen said: “my role will focus on marrying the demands of both partners and customers by compiling the right set of partners who can deliver custom solutions, consulting practices, and a range of high-value, tailored professional services. I look forward to helping grow of our global channel presence and assisting our customers with transforming their businesses.”

Telecom and security VAD Westcon-Comstor has appointed Geert Busse as business development leader for its Cyber Security & Next Generation Solutions (NGS) unit in EMEA. The recently created unit provides Westcon’s Cybersecurity business with expert leadership and dedicated resources that enhance its existing technical focus and allow it to take advantage of the significant new opportunities offered by ‘born-in-the-cloud’ vendors and partners, as well as supporting the evolution of business models and solutions with existing vendor relationships. This increased focus and dedicated support will target existing customers as well as attracting new customer profiles to Westcon in emerging, high-growth potential markets.

Daniel Hurel, Vice President Westcon EMEA – Cyber Security & Next Generation Solutions, comments: “this is a significant addition to our team in EMEA at a time of great opportunity for growth and differentiation for Westcon. Geert has built his career from the outset in technology business development and has always been at the forefront of the security market. Most recently he has been responsible for successfully driving our solutions-selling approach in the Benelux region. In this new role, Geert will bring his significant experience to develop our NGS business development capabilities in EMEA.”

French pan-European VAD Exclusive Networks has unveiled ‘MSSD’, its platform for delivering a suite of 100% channel-only managed security services that wrap around core Exclusive Networks vendor offerings and allow partners to increase customer lifetime value and tap into a market opportunity growing twice as fast as traditional cybersecurity. The first services, available now, are backed by advanced 24/7 SOC facilities, ISO-certified service delivery and highly accredited engineers – all the infrastructure and skills needed to provide world-class security-as-a-service without needing to procure from a competing reseller/MSP.

“As the cyber market evolves, MSSD is the logical step forward, extending our value and leveraging our channel focus to fill a significant gap in the market”, said Andy Travers, EVP Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Exclusive Networks. “Our initial MSSD services are designed to be as easy to understand and transact as possible so that partners can maximise customer mindshare immediately. Everything is geared towards giving partners risk-free access to managed services revenues, and allowing them to be more relevant to how their customers’ adopt cyber technologies over the long term. This initiative promotes market access across the channel and boosts growth for our vendors and reseller partners alike.”

Exclusive Networks has launched two core SOC-based managed security services on its MSSD platform, which each support multiple vendor technologies and can be white-labelled with volume commitment. MSSD: Monitoring & Alerting delivers expert 24/7 oversight of core security infrastructure such as firewalls, allowing end customers to avoid resourcing and training overheads even as threats increase in intensity and frequency. MSSD: Monitoring & Alerting + Prevention & Countermeasures builds on this to provide a complete reactive and proactive managed security service for next-gen security infrastructure. Further services will be added in 2020.

Julien Antoine, EVP Strategy & Operations, Exclusive Networks, said: “we see the high set-up costs and skills requirements of building an MSSP SOC restricting the channel’s dynamism and preventing the majority of partners from addressing customer demand for new forms of security consumption. The MSSD platform levels the playing field by removing the need for partners to put hard-earned business through competitors. As we evolve the MSSD offering to include additional services, we will retain its unique 100% channel focus.”

British A/V broadliner Midwich has unveiled an exclusive distribution partnership with MSolutions, a supplier of mobile, handheld test devices for commercial and residential AV environments.

Midwich will exclusively offer MSolutions products in Ireland and the United Kingdom, including its award-winning MS-TestPro 104BH portable HDBaseT device with HDMI cable tester module and optional DC Resistance module for in-depth analysis of the cables, to its broad network of installers and integrators across UK and Ireland.

The partnership comes at a time of significant expansion for MSolutions, as the company strengthens its presence and brand visibility throughout the EMEA region.

Stephen Fenby, managing director of Midwich, says: "the MSolutions team has been active in HDBaseT development since the standard was introduced in 2010, and the company has emerged as an innovator of problem-solving products that simplify the adoption and installation of HDBaseT media networks. HDBaseT is the global standard for the transmission of ultra-high-definition video & audio, Ethernet, controls, USB and up to 100W of power over a single, long-distance cable."

MSolutions’ test devices are used by installers and integrators today in North America, EMEA and APAC.

Software specialist DSD Europe has expanded its portfolio of cloud services with its first anti-spam solution, Mailinblack. Developed in France, MailinBlack distinguishes itself by using human authentication to protect companies and employees against various email threats.

In addition to the traditional anti-spam security filters, enriched by artificial intelligence, Mailinblack adds the Human Lock security system. This system uses human authentication to provide additional protection for users' messaging systems against various threats, such as malware, phishing, ransomware and spam.

"With more than 9,000 users, Mailinblack is a huge success on the French market. A success that we wish to bring to the Benelux by adding Mailinblack's unique anti-spam solution to our platform", says Laurent Cauwel, head of the French team and partner at DSD Europe.

How does Mailinblack work? When a sender sends an e-mail to a Mailinblack user for the first time, this sender receives an authentication request. Senders only receive this request if they are not on the white list and the e-mail does not present any risk for the organisation. Once authentication has been successfully completed, senders are automatically white-listed and email traffic can flow freely. Also, when a Mailinblack user sends an e-mail to an e-mail address, this address is automatically added to its white list.

"Deeply rooted in France with 9,000 users and an average growth rate of 40%, Mailinblack has recently raised 14 million euros and signed a partnership with Microsoft to expand internationally. We are therefore delighted to launch Mailinblack in the Benelux with DSD Europe", says Thomas Kerjean, CEO of Mailinblack." We choose a partnership with DSD because both companies share the same values: dynamic organisations with the ability to grow rapidly, where customer orientation and satisfaction are at the centre of all concerns."

Broadliner Exertis has appointed Rikki Harrison to the newly created role of general manager, Dell EMC, reporting to Jason Beeson, Exertis enterprise sales director.

Harrison will be responsible for growing the Dell EMC customer base both in terms of breadth and depth supported by a team of six.

“With data protection high up on the agenda of companies of all sizes, Dell EMC provides our resellers with industry leading solutions. We have a great opportunity to grow the Dell EMC business in the UK channel and Rikki is the start of an on-going investment in adding resource and expertise. He comes with a great deal of experience both in distribution and more importantly knowledge of the storage market which will be invaluable for our customers”, said Beeson.

Harrison joins from Tech Data where most recently, he had responsibility for the IBM systems and storage business in EMEA. Prior to that he worked for Arrow as a business manager for IBM storage. In total, he has over 20 years’ experience in the storage market.

“The opportunity to build a team dedicated to Dell EMC and develop a go-to-market strategy to significantly increase the business was a challenge that appealed to me. Exertis is a distributor with a clear focus on increasing its enterprise presence by offering resellers great solutions from world-class vendors”, said Harrison.

Investment in the Exertis Dell EMC team is continuing. Tyrone Kleynhams has joined as enterprise business development manager. He has more than 22 years’ experience at Dell in multiple, new business roles across several business segments including global accounts, large corporates and most recently with reseller partners. In addition, two further appointments have been added to the Exertis Dell EMC, pre-sales team - Donal O’Gorman and Ian Sheppard. O’Gorman has 15 years IT industry experience. Most recently he has been leading, creating and driving storage opportunities in Ireland for a tier 1 vendor and prior to that he worked at Dell EMC in a data protection role as well as in a storage pre-sales position. Sheppard joins from Hitachi Data Systems where he spent almost eleven years managing their global solutions and services for key EMEA partners. Prior to that he was a senior systems consultant for Dell for almost 10 years.

Ukrainian broadliner MTI hi-tech distribution has expanded its telecommunication offer with Raisecom products. The MTI warehouse already includes Ethernet access and aggregation switches, equipment for building PON networks, and protected industrial equipment for building computer and video surveillance networks for large enterprises and strategically important facilities.

Raisecom brand products meet all international quality standards and are widely used in large enterprises, Internet providers, the transport sector, military and industrial facilities, large, medium and small telecommunication operators, etc The assortment of the brand includes:

L2 + level access switches and L3 level aggregations;L2 + and L3 switches with PoE support;industrial switches (L2, L2 +, L3, PoE);equipment GPON OLT, ONT, SFP;special software for network management and administration.

“Raisecom brand products have been appreciated by Internet service providers, national Internet operators, large commercial and state enterprises, military facilities and industrial enterprises in many countries around the world. And in these areas we aim to develop deliveries, as the equipment has no competitors in the price / quality ratio in such segments”, said Sergiy Yakovlev, commercial director of MTI hi-tech distribution.

MTI hi-tech distribution will provide after-sales support with diagnostics and replacement of Raisecom equipment. Technical support of the first line (solving common issues) and the second line (eliminating technical problems, warranty service) will also be provided directly by MTI.

British POS specialist Varlink has appointed Lorien Lightfoot as their new Head of Sales and Marketing.

This appointment preceded a restructure within the company with Marketing and Sales being combined into one office to enable them to work more closely together. Lorien was the Head of Marketing before being promoted to Head of Sales and will now manage both teams within the company.

Lorien had over 10 years of management experience before joining Varlink in October 2017 as Marketing Manager. She was quickly promoted to Head of Marketing after just five months. Following her appointment as Head of Marketing, she spearheaded our most successful Meet the Manufacturer event yet in February this year at Leicester King Power Stadium. She was also shortlisted for a CRN Woman in Channel Award this year.

Commenting on Lorien’s recent promotion to Head of Sales and Marketing, Mike, CEO of Varlink, said: “since Lorien joined us in 2017 she has consistently applied her considerable knowledge, skills, enthusiasm and experience to shape and enhance our business and as result, in 2018, she was appointed Head of Marketing. As we look to further improve the service that we deliver to our customers and increase levels of business with our suppliers we determined that we should bring together our sales and marketing functions under the leadership of Lorien who is appointed to the newly created position of Head of Sales & Marketing.”

Italian broadliner Esprinet has signed a distribution agreement with StarTech.com, one of the companies with the widest and most comprehensive range of connectivity products. StarTech.com is a Canadian company, founded in 1985, offering a portfolio of connectivity accessories that supports over 200 different technologies and makes them easy to identify, find, obtain and use. The products offered by StarTech.com are certified by industry leaders and undergo rigorous testing to ensure the compatibility and reliability that IT professionals demand.

Under the terms of the agreement, Esprinet will be responsible for distributing StarTech.com's products and will progressively offer the vendor's entire portfolio. The goal is to reach an increasing number of resellers and IT professionals, leveraging its industry leadership and customer base.

By choosing Esprinet, StarTech.com relies on the number 1 in the market, a solid and reliable partner to grow in Italy. Thanks to its 39,000 resellers distributed throughout the territory, personalised marketing activities, targeted visibility on the website and in Esprivillage, a dedicated sales network and innovative category management solutions, Esprinet is the ideal partner to support the company in its growth path in the Italian market.

"", said Pascale Dautemer, StarTech.com Regional Manager, Southern Europe. "Italy is a key focus for StarTech.com and our continued global growth depends on our relationships with partners like Esprinet who have extensive knowledge of the local IT market and extensive distribution coverage. Through working with Esprinet, we are expanding our ability to provide Italian IT professionals with the critical knowledge and connectivity products they need to stay productive.”

"We're delighted that a growing company like StarTech.com has chosen Esprinet as its distributor to provide the extensive coverage that is a key competitive advantage. This partnership is a further confirmation of the trust that vendors place in us, an important opportunity to reaffirm our role as a leading distributor in various product sectors, as well as to offer our customers the best technology available", added Giovanni Testa, Business Operations Manager of Esprinet Italia.

Cloud Security and Cloud Compliance vendor C3M has unveiled a partnership with UAE-based VAD SCOPE Middle East to distribute Cloud Control, its cloud security and compliance management platform that offers automated and actionable cloud security insights to help enterprises automate cloud security monitoring and management, and enforce security best practices as it continues its global expansion via value-added channel partnerships.

Paddy Viswanathan, Founder, and CEO at C3M, said: “it is a great privilege to announce our partnership with SCOPE Middle East to spearhead our sales for the Middle East. They are renowned for their outstanding expertise in all aspects of cybersecurity and offer great value-added services to their partners across the whole of the region. Enterprises in the GCC region are rapidly adopting the Public Cloud and we expect to see rapid growth from this market in 2020. Knowing Cloud Control is in safe hands is key to our continued global success.”

Fadi AbuEkab, Founder of SCOPE Middle East, said: “C3M’s Cloud Control is a great and core addition to our security portfolio. Whether an organisation has one cloud account, or multiple workloads spread across various cloud accounts in a multi-cloud environment; security, and control is critical. C3M’s platform enables organisations to have full visibility of their cloud assets, monitor and remediate compliance breaches, audit all cloud activities, and schedule actionable reports and alerts. C3M is a channel-only vendor who puts partners first. Their technology is easy to demo, easy to sell, and easy to manage, with generous margins and a recurring revenue stream. This is a perfect scenario for both SCOPE Middle East and our reseller channel”

Cloud Control offers 24*7 security monitoring, risk identification and remediation in a multi-cloud environment. 87% of enterprises globally have a “Cloud First” orientation but with that comes risk. Security breaches can come from misconfigurations and human error. Compliance frameworks are continually evolving, keeping up with your cloud inventory is challenging and not every enterprise really understands their duties in a shared responsibility security model with the cloud service providers.

The ALSO Group has signed a new €300m revolving credit facility (RCF) that marks the successful Europe-wide technology provider’s debut in the syndicated credit market and confirmed the banks' confidence in the corporate strategy. For a term of five years ALSO is therefore able to make use of the attractive current financing conditions in the market and thus gain greater flexibility for potential acquisitions and its corporate financing.

"This newly promised €300m line of credit and the keen interest shown by the banks are a clear sign of our financial partners’ confidence in the solidity, stability and sustainability of our business model", says Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO Holding. "We are thereby increasing our financial leeway with regard to the Group’s strategic alignment and to further growth by means of potential acquisitions."

The banking consortium consists of eight banks led by ALSO’s longstanding partners BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Helaba and UniCredit. The RCF expands ALSO's already diversified financing concept, which consists of bilateral credit lines, factoring, a significant operating cash flow and long-term bonded loans. The long-term bonded loans represent a balanced overall distribution of maturity structure ranging from 2020 to 2027.

Russian broadliner Marvel Distribution has signed an agreement with Yealink for the supply of equipment for voice and video conferencing. The vendor specialises in the development and creation of hardware and software solutions for a wide range of tasks. Among the most popular products are Yealink Meeting Server videoconferencing server, VC800 system for conducting videoconferencing in large classrooms, VC500 for equipping medium-sized meeting rooms, VC200 for small rooms and office aquariums, and Microsoft Teams Rooms MVC video communication solution.

The beginning of cooperation between Marvel and Yealink is due to the active interest of the distributor's partners in affordable, but at the same time high-quality and reliable solutions for audio and video conferences.

“The market for conference calls has been developing quite seriously lately, so it’s important for us to have a vendor like Yealink in our portfolio. With the help of his decisions, we can close the needs of a wide audience”, says Evgeniy Franzuskiy, head of videoconferencing at Marvel Distribution.

“Russia is one of the most important markets for Yealink, so cooperation with Marvel opens up good prospects for both companies. We are confident that Marvel will become an integral part of the future growth of Yealink’s business, and with joint efforts we will achieve success in the near future”, says Pablo Wang, Vice President of VCL at Yealink.

German IT security provider Tuxguard has started to cooperate with software specialist Hexacom. The cooperation focuses on the business firewalls and the endpoint protection solution from Tuxguard. Customers benefit from modular security solutions that can be individually adapted to their requirements. As part of the partnership, Hexacom distributes, among other things, two different TUX firewall series and virtual appliances. Both the hardware and software of the firewalls are scalable and can therefore be modularly adapted to different network types and sizes. Depending on the company's requirements, various software modules such as network security, VPN, hotspot, web security, mail proxy and mail groupware can be integrated. In addition, Hexacom offers its customers TUX endpoint protection, powered by Avira, with AI and machine learning functions. "With our new partnership, we want to further promote the sale of our products", says Uwe Hanreich, Managing Director of Tuxguard. "We are therefore delighted to have found Hexacom, an experienced partner at eye level, who shares our mission of offering companies exactly the solution they need." "We stand by our customers as partners in all aspects of their IT security strategy", says Kerstin Flerlage, managing director of Hexacom. "For this reason, we have expanded our portfolio with the business firewalls and endpoint protection solution from Tuxguard. In this way, we provide our customers with inexpensive, high-quality products that we can adapt to their requirements at any time."

Broadliner ELKO Ukraine has signed a contract with Sophela, a representative of HPE in Ukraine, to distribute Aruba solutions throughout the country. ELKO Ukraine starts supplying a number of products, including:

networking solutions for building productive and secure wireless and wired enterprise networks. This includes the SD WAN (Software Defined Wide Area Network) architecture, which can significantly optimise costs and increase information security when building and operating large distributed corporate networks.information security systems, including Wireless IPS, NAC, DPI, and behavioural analysis using artificial intelligence (AI). These solutions reduce the risks associated with unauthorised, destructive impact on an organisation's IT infrastructure.solutions that give ELKO Ukraine partners the opportunity to grow their business through the transition from the sale of equipment and components, software to selling their own services.

Oleksandr Artemenko, Aruba Product Development Manager at ELKO Ukraine, said: "ELKO Ukraine continues to systematically develop the lines of design, Value Added IT distribution. We are expanding our competencies and expanding our distribution portfolio with world-class A-manufacturers. Aruba is a recognised leader in corporate networking, data center and element solutions critical infrastructure. Aruba's products incorporate unique technologies that, on the one hand, provide ease of deployment and management of networks of various sizes, and on the other - high reliability, quality of customer service and security. The company's products have traditionally been in demand both globally and in the Ukrainian market. Having a secure, productive, and reliable support network with a wide range of network services helps reduce risks, reduce operating costs, and receive high-quality, relevant information for BI / ERP / CRM systems. Our collaboration with Aruba is another milestone in ELKO's long-term strategy to provide our partners with effective tools to grow their business in integrated solutions and systems integration."

Vyacheslav Samoilenko, head of Aruba in Ukraine, added: "the development of mobile and cloud technologies in connection with the Internet of Things is changing the future of the workflow and requires a separate, self-contained approach to building a network infrastructure. A new paradigm is being formed to create an intelligent digital workspace. This is why our company is focused on productivity and mobility. We are pleased to announce that ELKO Ukraine is among our partners in the Ukrainian market, actively developing value-added project distribution aimed at providing system integrators with the necessary set of solutions to create a secure, productive and functional IT infrastructure for enterprises of all sizes. The cooperation of our companies will significantly expand the presence of Aruba products in the Ukrainian market and make its solutions available to a wider range of companies offering network construction and security services."

ELKO Ukraine, as the official distributor of Aruba, provides system integrator partners with all the necessary resources for successful business development:

active support in protection of investments of the partner in the projectbusiness cases and recommendations for business developmentcompetitive business conditionsquality logisticsthe opportunity to acquire extended service support and consult with engineersdemo equipmentassistance in piloting and designtraining of employees of partner companies…

Broadliner Exertis has appointed Robert Fitzsimons as UK head of marketing, reporting to Paul Bryan, Exertis UK&I, managing director. He will be responsible for managing the company's enterprise, business and consumer channel marketing, leading a team of marketing professionals that provide innovative and highly effective programmes for partners.

“I am delighted to announce the appointment of Rob to head up our UK marketing team. Since joining us almost six years ago, he has gained experience across our enterprise, business and consumer divisions helping to drive and lead a number of channel initiatives including our highly successful Plug In to Exertis event. Rob is a product of our DCC graduate scheme and so his appointment is testament to the career progression available from Exertis”, said Bryan.

Fitzsimons graduated from Seton Hall university with a BSc in business administration with a major in marketing and then went on to gain a Masters of Science in marketing at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business. He joined the DCC graduate sales and marketing programme in 2012 gaining experience across the various business sectors within the DCC Group.

“I am looking forward to the challenge of leading our UK marketing team. We have a great foundation to work from and a highly experienced marketing team committed to provide our vendor partners and customers with programmes that deliver return on investment and opportunities to grow their business. Our goal is to ensure that we are the go-to distributor for marketing based on our creativity, account management and understanding of how we can help generate revenue and profit for our partners and customers”, said Fitzsimons.

Ukrainian broadliner MTI has become a partner of Navitel, a developer of navigation software, cartography and intelligent monitoring systems. The brand portfolio is represented by 4 models of GPS-navigators, 12 models of DVRs and car accessories.

Over 13 years of presence on the international market, the Navitel brand has won the trust of users with the quality of its products and affordable prices. A licensed application with a map of Europe Navitel Navigator is provided for each device. GPS navigators of this brand are equipped with the function of an FM transmitter and an audio player.

Navitel’s own maps are regularly updated, with a wide database of POIs (infrastructure objects, attractions, natural areas whose coordinates are printed on the GPS map) and receive information from photo radars. In addition, the company has its own mapping department. A distinctive feature of Navitel DVRs is FullHD video recording, a navigation license for a smartphone, as well as Wi-Fi support for some models such as the Navitel R1000 and R700.

MTI will also provide service support for Navitel devices.

“We are aimed at developing the Navitel brand in the promising Ukrainian market. As a reliable Ukrainian importer and leading distributor, MTI is ready to support Navitel in the implementation and promotion of hi-tech solutions for a wide range of consumers”, says Sergiy Yakovlev, the commercial director of MTI.

The fast-growing security and AV division of British telecom VAD Nimans is celebrating a double boost after adding two major names to its expanding product portfolio. Nimans has teamed-up with power supply specialist Haydon and AV mounts manufacturer B-Tech, hot on the heels of becoming an official UK distributor for CCTV giant Hanwha.

“These are very exciting times for Nimans as we become a complete one-stop-shop for security and AV. Since launching the new division in September we’ve been blown away by orders and interest and 2020 will be even bigger and better”, says the division’s Director of Sales, Camilla Kirkham.

B-Tech manufacture a wide range of award-winning AV mounting solutions whilst Haydon specialise in enclosures, power supplies, HDMI splitters, housings and accessories.

“Both B-Tech and Haydon are market leaders in their respective fields and we are delighted to be official stockists – backed by the highest levels of service and support from our own in-house team. Our new division has come a long way in a very short time and much more will follow next year working with high calibre brands such as the two latest additions”, Camilla added.

Dutch software specialist DSD Europe has added Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud to its security offering. DSD also meets the strong demand from its IT partners for the Symantec cloud solution and complements its extensive and varied security offer.

Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud, or SEP Cloud, offers a complete set of security features, presented as a security solution as a service, with which you can easily protect all small and medium-sized enterprise devices against ransomware, zero-day threats and other advanced attacks.

A powerful combination of detection technologies, such as advanced automatic learning and behaviour monitoring, is used to protect terminals from advanced threats and rapidly changing malware. In addition, SEP Cloud includes a mobile security solution to proactively protect iOS and Android devices against a wide range of existing and unknown threats, such as malware, network threats and application/operating system vulnerabilities.

SEP Cloud is provided via the DSD platform as a monthly licensing model per user or per device. With the per-user license model, you can secure multiple devices (PC, Mac or mobile) with a single license key.

"SEP Cloud is offered as a monthly license model with the ability to add additional modules, such as email encryption. With this module, Symantec stands out from all the other security solutions in our range", said Stan Laurijssen, Cloud Services Team Leader at DSD Europe.

German telephony specialist Michael Telecom has unveiled a distribution partnership with Swiss vendor Skross, which is specialised in the design of innovative travel adapters, cables, chargers and power banks.

"With Skross, we are pleased to have gained a new, highly innovative partner with attractive products and user-oriented solutions", says Oliver Hemann, member of the board of Michael Telecom. "The charging and synchronisation systems, which are compatible with all international standards, are an ideal addition to our existing product range."

Russian broadliner Merlion and Chinese household vendor Haier have signed a distribution agreement. As an official distributor, Merlion will bring Haier smartphones to the Russian market and, thanks to its wide sales channel (over 7,500 partners), promote these inexpensive and stylish devices with excellent specifications.

"The smartphone market remains one of the most dynamic segments in the IT industry, and this is confirmed by the fact that the best-selling Internet products in Russia are tablets and smartphones", says Tatyana Skokova, distribution director of Merlion's Broadline Division. "We are confident in a good start and successful further cooperation with such a strong manufacturer as Haier, because we know how to work with this product: the product category smartphones in the volume of our sales - in second place. It is worth noting that a significant part of our sales channel are computer and household appliances retailers, federal retail chains, telecom retailers, for which the sale of mobile devices is one of the key areas of business. For our part, as an official distributor, we will ensure the availability of smartphone partners in the warehouse and together with the vendor we intend to develop a sales support system through marketing activities aimed at both partners and end users."

In the near future, thanks to Merlion's partners, all series of Haier smartphones will be presented on the shelves and online shop windows of Russian stores: Infinity flagship model (with a drop-shaped camera neckline and thin display frames that provide a sense of boundless screen), Elegance (for those who are equally important design and functionality), Power (phones with long operating times, equipped with high-capacity batteries) as well as Alfa basic models (with uncompromising functionality at an affordable price). Special attention should be paid to the waterproof and dustproof Titan smartphones, which include modern features (NFC, AI-camera), while able to withstand harsh operating conditions and environmental influences.

According to Tatyana Skokova, "the width of the line, from affordable price segment (with an average price of 35€) to high-end models tagged at 145€), all allied with a high quality, are factors that will definitely appeal consumers."

The specialist supplies division of broadliner Exertis is now an authorised HP Tier 1 supplies distributor. Resellers will have access to the entire range, special bids and promotions.

Andrew Beaumont, Exertis Supplies managing director, said: “we are delighted to be recognised as an HP Tier 1 supplies distributor. It goes without saying that HP is a key vendor in the inkjet and laser print market. We are a strong advocate of genuine supplies designed specifically for the machine as they ensure perfect print quality and reliability. It’s also great news for our customers who can now benefit from purchasing all their HP supplies along with other office products from one source.”

Non-genuine supplies can pose risks in terms of warranty issues, printer performance and print yield whilst genuine supplies are rigorously tested by manufacturers. According to the Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC), an organisation whose members include HP, Canon, Brother, Epson, Lexmark and Xerox, counterfeit printer consumables cost the industry around €2.7 billion annually worldwide which impacts printer production costs and R&D.

Jason Hunt, HP Supplies distribution business manager, said: “Exertis Supplies has a great reputation in the industry with an experienced and dedicated team that understands the market. We are pleased that resellers have the opportunity to purchase their HP supplies requirements from this trusted source.”

Decision makers’ aggregate views of IT distributors – from across the spectrum of venture capitalists, established OEMs, emerging tech companies, MSPs, solution providers and end customers – are the focus of a comprehensive new study released today by The Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC). The organisation’s members drive €135 billion in annual revenue and include the world’s most successful IT distributors. As the GTDC’s new independently produced report, Tech Distribution 2025, reveals, distributors are becoming more interconnected and instrumental across diverse technology market segments, today ascending to an increasingly vital role enabling multi-channel success.

“When we commissioned this report, we wanted to get a complete end-to-end picture of IT distribution, from where it’s been to where we expect it to be in the years ahead” commented Frank Vitagliano, appointed CEO of the GTDC in April. “Until now, the GTDC had not yet explored in aggregate each of the industry dimensions depending on distributors. Among other findings, we learned that the level of engagement and planning with distributors goes considerably deeper and broader than in past years.”

Tech Distribution 2025 is based on detailed surveys and interviews with more than 50 top industry executives across the various industry segments covered. Most study participants – nearly 69% – possessed over a decade of experience working with IT distributors. Those new to distribution also represented a sizeable 10% of the respondents, and approximately 21% indicated between five and 10 years of distribution-related experience. Findings, as follows, are based on the study respondents’ projections for their distribution partnerships through the year 2025:

more than half (61%) of study participants anticipate greater than 10% growth through distributorsvirtual warehouse support for SaaS and cloud solutions will evolve as a primary distributor core competency and demand driverintegration, logistics, inventory management and asset lifecycle services will remain crucialpartner enablement, credit/financial services and recruitment will be of top overall importance

“This study confirms that many long-term distributor core services are still extremely relevant in the digital era”, Vitagliano pointed out. “Distributor value is also on the rise. Corresponding business models and portfolios continue to evolve. Multi-vendor solutions are essential, and channel companies and vendors all want to work with distributors to deliver the products, solutions and specialised services consumers and businesses of all sizes need to thrive.”

Data protection editor Acronis has unveiled a multi-year strategic global distribution agreement with broadliner Ingram Micro. The relationship will make Acronis Cyber Protection solutions easily accessible for organisations around the world, enabling them to meet their customers’ demand for easy, efficient, and secure cyber protection.

With more than 50,000 partners, the Acronis channel network is experiencing significant growth. The relationship with Ingram Micro will give service providers an opportunity to take advantage of the current market opportunity to grow their business with Acronis.

“Ingram Micro is an important ally in our efforts to promote our vision of modern cyber protection, and this renewed relationship will enable even more service providers to deliver innovative, effective, affordable solutions to their customers”, said Serguei Belusov, Acronis Founder and Executive Officer. “With traditional data protection and cybersecurity solutions failing to meet modern data challenges, the demand for true cyber protection continues to grow. Service providers now face a lucrative opportunity, and Acronis and Ingram Micro can help them leverage that opportunity.”

Acronis Cyber Protection solutions address the Five Vectors of Cyber Protection – ensuring the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) of data. This unique approach helps customers protect all of their data, applications, and systems, ensuring effective cyber protection and data management in the data center, cloud, and edge devices.

The effectiveness of this approach has been proven in multiple industries, as well as in the most data-driven sports around the world. Today, Acronis is the cyber protection partner of several motorsport teams in Formula 1, Formula E, Formula 2, Formula 3, and Supercars, as well as the English Premier League’s Arsenal Football Club and Manchester City FC, and Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox.

“Acronis solutions are known worldwide for their unique and effective approach to cyber protection”, said Renee Bergeron, Senior Vice President Global Cloud at Ingram Micro. “Ingram Micro serves more than 200,000 customers in approximately 160 countries, and we’re certain our customers will see great benefits from using Acronis Cyber Protection solutions to safeguard their data against modern threats.”