Cabletron kick-starts restructure

Cabletron has given the first indication of its restructured channel strategy since its acquisition of Digital's networking division, appointing European account managers for Azlan and Anixter.

Ross Green, previously Azlan's UK account manager, will take on the distributor's European responsibility and Jan Bowker will be in charge of Anixter across the region.

According to Green: 'Those distributors appointed are for the Digital networking group, which is a Cabletron company.'

However, Nick Gosshawk, UK marketing manager for networking at Digital networking group, said the division will now be merged into Cabletron.

Previous plans had kept the two companies separate.

He added: 'It is intentional that Azlan and Anixter have been kept on.

There is no logical reason why they would not be.'

Dave Inman, European marketing director for networking products at Anixter, said: 'We could not commercially die because we have significant business with Digital.'

He added: 'The products we are selling are branded as Digital, in the short term at least.'

According to Richard Pryor Jones, UK MD at Azlan: 'There has been no official statement from Cabletron about us taking on its products.' He added: 'The vibes have been very positive and we would want to do it.'

Gosshawk said: 'Azlan and Anixter are the two largest distributors we have that are pan-European. If there is a need to address this market then a decision will be made.'

In a statement, Guy Buyst, Cabletron's executive vice president and EMEA president, said the appointments demonstrate the company's commitment to its major business partners.

Cabletron's acquisition of Digital's networking has, according to Gosshawk, now been completed.