Repton aims to work magic on Starwand

City of London reseller Repton has bought the name and customer database of Starwand, 3Com's biggest education reseller in the UK.

Starwand entered administration on 10 February. Geoff Rowley, a partner at administrator RSM Robson Rhodes, said the directors of Starwand had decided that there was no viable future for the company.

Greg Carlow, managing director of Repton, said that Starwand had a loyal customer base, but that the firm had found it hard to "break through to the next level".

"We had been in discussions with Starwand for some time," Carlow said. "Where they sell and where we sell has very little overlap, affecting five out of more than 600 customers."

He said five Starwand employees did not transfer to Repton, but that at least five key sales staff from Starwand will transfer to Repton's offices. The business will trade as Starwand, a division of Repton.

Carlow said: "Starwand will run autonomously for six months to a year. It has relocated to our building and we will let it run things its own way. We will try and do it pragmatically.

"In the longer term, Repton will have a route into the education market that we didn't have before, and Starwand will be able to get to product sets that it didn't have."

Jason Dance, former managing director of Starwand, said he would be consulting with Repton. "Starwand's P&L is with Repton, and it is in discussions with 3Com," he said.

3Com declined to comment, but said accreditations would not be issued automatically.

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