New boss at Opennet MEA

Andre van Rensburg has been named as the new general manager of Red Hat and Zimbra distributor Opennet MEA. Van Rensburg steps in to replace outgoing general manager David Allinson who recently left the company. Opennet has also appointed Jacques van der Merwe as training sales manager as the company looks to step up its channel development strategy in 2010. Read full story

UAE tops e-commerce spending survey

The UAE had the highest average online shopping spend in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Mastercard. Despite these encouraging results, only two out of seven major consumer electronics and IT retailers operating in the UAE have rudimentary e-commerce facilities in place. Read full story

Avnet signs EMEA deal with LSI

VAD outfit Avnet Technology Solutions (ATS) has struck an EMEA distribution deal with LSI Corporation. Under the terms of the deal, ATS will look to provide channel partners with LSI storage solutions for a broad range of applications. The agreement enables Avnet to distribute the full LSI product portfolio of SATA and SAS solutions. Read full story

Axiz talks up Lenovo partnership

South Africa-based distributor Axiz reckons its relationship with hardware giant Lenovo is going from strength to strength. The companies struck a distribution deal six months ago focused on Lenovo’s range of corporate targeted Think products. The two companies have now expanded the scope of the distribution deal to cover a wider portfolio. Read full story

The EMEA Channel Wrap – 05/03/10

Due to popular demand, the EMEA Channel Wrap is back from its winter break. We’ve been missing in action for the last month or so due to trips and events (including the top notch DISTREE XXL 2010 event in Monaco). As we’re all well aware, the EMEA channel never sleeps so we’ve dug out the foreign dictionaries once again to bring you a rundown of the news making headlines in national channel publications across EMEA. And we’re off… Read full feature

‘ECA: 2010 Awards’ - DISTRIBUTOR WINNERS

The ‘EMEA Channel Academy (ECA): 2010 Awards’ held in Monaco last week included 10 separate award categories for distributors. The awards, now in their second year, were held in association with DISTREE XXL – EMEA’s premier channel event. A jury of EMEA-level vendor executives voted live during the Gala Dinner to select the winners for each award. Read full feature