Avaya's distributor rationalisation approved by partners

Avaya resellers have applauded the vendor’s decision to cut down distribution numbers following its acquisition of Nortel.

After conducting a review, Avaya revealed this week that its revised distribution line-up in Australia will consist of Distribution Central and Westcon Group. VExpress has also been kept on to carry SMB products. Avnet and Ingram Micro were dropped from the list.

GlobalConnect has dealings with Avnet, Distribution Central and Westcon in a range of product areas. The call centre integrator’s managing director, Pushkar Taneja, said distributors had a solid opportunity to present their business case.

“I don’t see it as an issue for our business, but rationalisation will make things easier for everybody,” he added.

Managing director of Avaya partner NSC, Craig Neil, said the merger of Avaya and Nortel always meant some distributors would miss out. The networking integrator began skilling up across the Nortel products range after discovering Avaya’s intentions.

“The other distributors that missed out have never done anything wrong by NSC, but unfortunately there can’t be five winners,” Neil said. He singled out Westcon as a good choice due its global reach.

“We really need a distributor that can provide products in other countries, provide local billing and that sort of thing,” Neil said.

Communications Australia sales director, Alf Harding, also supported Avaya’s decision to limit the amount of distributors.

“We’re happy to work with any of the remaining distributors and we have healthy relationships with all of them,” he added.

Gen-i head of customer interaction services, Maragaret Munro, added Avaya held extensive briefings and has been very solid in its merger with Nortel. Gen-i has been a Nortel partner for more than 20 years.

"During the hiatus, while Avaya was determining what they were going to do, it had made some customers nervous," she said.

In a statement, Avaya A/NZ managing director, Rob Wells, said distributors played a key part in the vendor’s channel strategy.

“With the acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions business, new distribution partners were added to the channel mix,” he said. “After careful study and assessment, Avaya is moving forward with the optimum mix of distribution partners globally.”

The vendor will announce global distributors shortly.

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