NEC Computers partners with Midwich
NEC jumps into Acer's shoes following partnership breakdown with distributor
Bullish vendor NEC Computers has taken advantage of Midwich’s split with rival Acer by signing the firm as its second UK distribution partner.
NEC is looking to use Midwich to bolster its presence in the SME market and plans to have about 500 resellers working through the distributor by this time next year.
Speaking to CRN, Mike Tonkin, sales director UK and Nordics at NEC Computers, said: “When Midwich finished [its relationship] with Acer, it didn’t have a desktop supplier which left it with a gap.”
Tonkin said the vendor intends to use Midwich’s expertise to target the SME market, where NEC is keen to build market share.
“The best way to [target SMEs] is through resellers,” he said. “This partnership will make our products more accessible to VARs and end-users. NEC already works with Midwich in the audiovisual [AV] space, so it has a database of customers that already know the NEC brand.”
Tonkin added that NEC, which also works with Interactive Ideas in the UK, will continue to speak to other potential distribution partners to further push growth.
Darren Lewitt, divisional director at Midwich, said: “We decided to part company with Acer because of a combination of cost, warranties and reliability. It was not viable for us to work with Acer anymore, but this left us without a desktop supplier and our customers still wanted us to supply a PC offering.
“This partnership provides us with bigger opportunities using the NEC brand name. We can now supply products for the corporate space as well as the AV space.
“NEC is not over distributed, which allows our resellers to make more money selling its products.”
>> Further reading: