ITAC UK falls into administration

Manchester-based sub-distributor ITAC UK Limited has become the latest firm to fall victim to market conditions and enter administration.

ITAC, which counts Microsoft, CA, Symantec, Adobe and McAfee among its vendor partners, has appointed accountancy firm KPMG as official administrator.

Paul Flint, administrator at KPMG, said: “We were appointed on Monday. It is early days and we are carrying out a detailed investigation into what went wrong.”

Flint was unable to confirm whether the firm will be sold as a going concern or if its assets will be sold off.

ITAC hit the headlines in 2005, when Microsoft issued a $7m (£3.51m) civil case against it for allegedly selling parallel import software from an unauthorised source in the Middle East (CRN, 7 February 2005). ITAC then counter-sued Microsoft for libel, which was settled in a last-minute out of court deal (CRN, 27 February 2006).

Barry Omesuh, owner of ITAC and of security vendor GSEC1, refused to comment as CRN went to press.

Eddie Pacey, director of credit at Bell Micro, one of ITAC’s creditors, said: “It makes me question whether these kind of businesses [sub distributors] are still viable businesses.”

In separate news, managed services specialist P&I Data Services Limited (also known as Pandi) entered administration on 22 February. The firm has offices in Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Glasgow and Cardiff.