InTechnology to morph into a reseller after acquisition
Firm reveals plans to become a reseller and hints at acquisition after the sale of its distribution unit
InTechnology has gone against the market trend and is morphing from a distributor into a reseller, following the sale of its distribution business last week. The firm has also revealed it is already on the acquisition path to boost its managed services business.
As predicted by CRN (CRN, 4 December), InTechnology sold its distribution business to Arrow-owned German distributor DNS for £41m (CRN Online, 7 December). The firm will now concentrate on offering its managed services directly to end-users.
Peter Wilkinson, chief executive of InTechnology, told CRN: “After the sale of our distribution division we are left with three streams of business; our data backup services, our network services and our voice-over IP division. We will effectively become a reseller with a managed services offering and will launch a new set of product services in the New Year.
“We will also look to buy a reseller with managed voice offerings, to boost us from £30m to £50m [turnover].”
Regarding the speculation over DNS’s acquisition of security specialist Noxs, Wilkinson said: “If DNS wants to get big in security in Europe, it makes sense for it to buy Noxs.”
However, CRN understands that the plan for DNS to buy Noxs at the same time as InTechnology has been delayed.
Bernie Dodwell, European security manager at distributor Westcon Group, said: “The move is right for Arrow, but if it wants to be a corporate player it needs the European coverage too [through Noxs]. It will be interesting to see whether Arrow has the knowledge of the security market in Europe to make it a success.”
Mark Hatton, managing director at specialist security distributor Sphinx, said: “I don’t think it will make much of a difference to the UK landscape,” he said. “InTechnology will still be InTechnology in the UK and Noxs will still be Noxs in Europe – it is not as if a new player has entered the market, it is just an ownership change.
“Also, looking at the history of big US distributors buying up quality smaller UK players, it isn’t good.”