Magirus axes security division

Magirus' UK managing director Andrew Binding

Distributor Magirus has confirmed it will be making a small number of redundancies in the UK after pulling the plug on its security division.

Niall McGrane, who headed up the unit, will be leaving the firm as part of the restructure.

Consultations are taking place with the division’s four remaining staff and the distributor’s virtualisation and security teams will now be combined.

Germany-based Magirus said its UK business will now concentrate solely on security solutions that complement its storage and virtualisation offerings.

It is also in consultations with vendors impacted by the move, but stressed those that have “strong synergies” within virtualisation and storage will be kept on.

Earlier this year Magirus had high hopes for the security market, as it took the wraps off a four pronged security approach aimed at boosting its resellers’ business (Channelweb, 23 April)

Vendors featured in Magirus’ security portfolio included AEP Networks, GFI, Radware and Clearswift.

The move comes a year after Magirus completed the sale of its IBM and HP business to rival Avnet (Channelweb, 8 October, 2007).

Dave Ellis, e-security director at rival distributor Computerlinks, said: " This surprised me given security was supposed to be a core part of Magirus' business and that it was going to invest heavily in it."