By combining Westcon's networking strengths with Alcatel-Lucent's data portfolio, the partnership positions Westcon Group to be the leading specialty distributor in the market. Westcon Group UK will offer the complete range of Alcatel-Lucent's Enterprise portfolio of data products and provide UK resellers with support resources and product specialists.
Commenting on the European agreement Barry Shakespeare, EVP of Westcon Group Europe stated: "This agreement presents some very compelling opportunities for both companies. Given our current European presence, we will be in a position to bring Alcatel-Lucent products to the European reseller community as part of a complete Enterprise convergence offering.
In the UK this gives us the opportunity to expand our data offering and support the channel through our dedicated programme infrastructure."
Jon Pritchard, managing director of Westcon Group UK added: "We are providing Alcatel with a tried and tested logistics extension to their data business in the UK which further complements our offering and increases the freedom of choice to the channel."
Westcon will supply Alcatel-Lucent's leading OmniSwitch and OmniStack IP networking technology and its customers will benefit from a dedicated Alcatel-Lucent account team at Westcon with in-depth knowledge and experience of the data product offering. Furthermore, Alcatel-Lucent will continue to support resellers through Westcon with services that include training, technical support and marketing.
By adding Alcatel-Lucent to its portfolio, Westcon has further broadened its comprehensive product offering to now include scaleable wired and wireless LAN solutions, which are easy to install and manage. The Alcatel-Lucent solutions provide Westcon customers the opportunity to embrace a new business generation focused on how technology plays a part in optimizing business results and customer service satisfaction in their daily business.
"Westcon's leading position in the networking arena meant it was the ideal partner for the distribution of our data networking solutions," said Graeme Allan, country manager for Alcatel-Lucent enterprise activities in UK and Ireland. "Its vast customer base and relevant expertise, coupled with our best-of-breed IP technology, should see this partnership prove highly successful. We've been significantly increasing our data market share during 2006 and we expect the distribution deal with Westcon to add further fuel to this growth."