Fight Back ’09: Channel becomes The Godfather

ICT companies continue to face tough economic times, but several channel players managed to come out on top in the past week.

Services and integration company, The Frame Group, built on its partnership with Melbourne Airport by completing a 20-year infrastructure plan. Starting in Melbourne a year ago, the partnership has proved a lucrative one with the airport making major investments which will run into the millions in coming years. National sales manager for Frame Group, Roger Barlow, said business was booming. “We have a number of other big contract wins to be announced in the coming months – business is going very briskly for us at the moment,” he said.

IT consulting and service provider, Capgemini, was also building business opportunity after jumping on-board the Department of Defence’s program to improve network-centric warfare capabilities.

Capgemini has worked with Defence since the mid-1990s but saw The Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation (RPDE) program as a more effective way to interact and said the move would benefit both parties.

Meanwhile, China-based iPod dock vendor, Ravon Audio, made Audion Innovision an offer it couldn’t refuse for exclusive A/NZ distribution .

Audion said the two companies first entered discussions 12 months ago and began local product certification after six months. Managing director, Boyd Dainton, said the deal could be worth up to $3 million in the first 12 months.

Melbourne-based distributor, Techplus, also introduced major operational changes including a vendor shakeup, additional staff and new partner program.

The company added ManageEngine, Igel, Celestix, Tricerat, Infoblox and Expand Networks to its vendor list and announced plans to drop others. Techplus managing director, Paul Kern, is staying mum on which of its old companies will be kiboshed.

“There are a couple of vendors we are about to drop that we found were not appropriate for our customer base,” he said.

That’s it for the good news. Tune in to Fight Back ’09 next time for your daily dose of optimism this and every week!

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