Allied Telesis dials up VCW

VCW will act as a stock agent for Allied Telesis

Distributor VCW is aiming to revive Allied Telesis’ channel fortunes after being appointed as a ‘stock agent’ for the networking vendor.

VCW will work alongside existing UK distributors Micro Peripherals (Micro-P) and Bell Micro.

Unlike the two incumbents, VCW will carry out systems design work on behalf of dealers, as well as holding stock. The partnership will focus on the vendor’s high-end Layer 3 networking gear.

Graham Fox, managing director of VCW Security, said the appointment could help to re-energise the manufacturer’s brand in the UK.

“Allied Telesis’ market share started to reduce and it slowed down activity,” he admitted.

“But it has gone away, collected itself and now it feels it is time to have another go at the market aggressively. It has good technology and will surprise a few people.”

Ron Davis, who launched Allied Telesis’ UK business in 1990, was recently persuaded to return to the firm in the new role of UK sales director.

VCW can help resellers who need the skills of both a systems integrator and the inventory of a distributor behind them, he said.

And Davis added that both Micro-P and Bell are comfortable with the move.

“This will not cause them any pain,” he said.

“Micro-P has got 2,000 active customers buying networks and only 200 to 250 buy Allied so we are just scratching the surface with them. Bell probably has the same number of customers but they are more system oriented and tend to find the niches that others can’t.”