Jilted Nimans claims Avaya channel was over-distributed

Duo confirm they will stop working together in February

Julian Niman: We’ve seen margins eroded by around five per cent this year

Nimans has described its split with Avaya as “perhaps inevitable” and claims the margins it traditionally enjoyed with the vendor have been squeezed by over-distribution.

Last week, ChannelWeb revealed that one of Avaya’s five UK distributors had been served notification, with Nimans the fancied victim.

Avaya and Nimans have today released a joint statement confirming the duo will stop working together next February.

Nimans chairman Julian Niman admitted that the distributor's lack of overseas clout had been a factor.

“Our customers have always benefited from unrivalled levels of pre- and post-sales support and service excellence, including deliveries from a UK warehouse,” he said.

“We are however not a pan-European distributor and this doesn’t fit as well with Avaya’s strategic direction.”

Niman described the split as “unfortunate” but stressed the distributor had important relationships with Panasonic, Siemens, NEC, Samsung and Aastra.

“On reflection we feel this decision was perhaps inevitable,” he added. “After Avaya’s acquisition of Nortel they simply had too many UK distributors. As a result we’ve seen margins eroded by around five per cent this year.”

Thomas Veit, head of distribution, Avaya EMEA, added: “The announcement today forms part of our strategy to maintain our close partnerships and ensure we are able to provide our high levels of quality support and resources to our partners. Nimans is highly respected in the industry and with its customers. We would like to wish the team well moving forward.”