Online rebrands as Westcon Middle East

by Stuart Wilson, Monday 15 December 2008

Westcon Middle East group managing director Steve Lockie

Middle East value-added networking outfit Online Distribution has rebranded itself as Westcon Middle East, as networking channel giant Datatec looks to bring some brand cohesion to its sprawling business empire. Both Online Distribution and Westcon are owned by South African-quoted Datatec. The company also owns Comstor, which is itself a division of Westcon.

If that’s left you a litte confused, click here to see full details of Datatec’s structure. The newly-formed Westcon Middle East brings together the leading names in networking in the Middle East, Western Asia and North Africa, according to the company. The company is keen to clarify that the company has simply undertaken a brand change, leaving its legal and ownership structures intact. The organisation maintains the same terms and conditions embodied in its existing client contracts under the former Online Distribution banner.

Westcon Middle East remains part of the Westcon emerging markets group, reporting directly to and funded by Datatec, thus maintaining the company’s current market strategies and support.

Westcon Middle East group managing director Steve Lockie, said: “On the face of things this is a simple brand change but in reality it brings the true power and presence of Westcon Group to the market. We brought the first phase of these to the region in our sister company Comstor just over a year ago and already resellers will be seeing our new brand and marketing tools rolling out.”

“Just this week our Eid greetings piloted the introduction of ’MailVision’ - our reseller awareness tool – [and] there’s a whole lot more to follow. Given today’s challenging markets we continue to be convinced that it is correct to capitalise on the opportunities offered by high-growth areas in the Middle East and emerging economies such as Africa and India,” he added.

“What we have engineered is a change in corporate perspective for the future; but what we have retained is our commitment to offering leading products, services and programmes that meet the diverse needs of our valued clients. We assure our present and future partners of the same levels of quality and service that have made us a leader in networking and communications, security, infrastructure and mobility distribution,” concluded Lockie.

Westcon’s partner in the Middle East include 3Com, ADC Krone, APC, APW, Ascom, Austin Hughes, Avaya, Avocent, Chatsworth Products Inc, Eaton, Extreme Networks, Juniper Networks, Meru Networks, Motorola, Nortel, Oneil, Ortronics, Proxim, Sonicwall, Trend Micro and Zebra.