CHS usurps C2000 Microsoft contract

Distributor lands $20 million business to supply Computacenter.

CHS Electronics has snatched a contract from Computer 2000 to supply Microsoft software to Computacenter, ending C2000's four-year hold on the deal.

The distributor, which was invited to tender for the contract over two months ago in competition with C2000 and Ingram Micro, will supply Microsoft box products in Germany, France and the UK. The deal was estimated to be worth in excess of #20 million.

One source stated that Computacenter changed distributors because C2000 was not providing the right service level for the reseller: 'Computacenter is a very demanding customer, but CHS is well integrated across Europe.'

Axel Lagerborg, general manager of the software division at C2000, said he was not prepared to discuss Computacenter's decision to award the contract elsewhere. He countered that C2000 was still continuing to supply the reseller with some Microsoft kit under the mail-order protection scheme.

Phil Williams, head of corporate marketing at Computacenter, said a number of factors had influenced the decision to award the Microsoft contract to CHS: 'The terms on offer were better. It was an international tender and we needed to ensure the support we needed could be met across Germany, France and the UK.'

Williams acknowledged C2000 also supplied across all these regions but pointed out: 'We need to maintain service levels and remain commercial in every market.'

Peter Rigby, director of marketing and communications at CHS, said the contract will run for an initial six months. He added: 'We were able to respond on a pan-European basis.' Rigby and Williams refused to comment on how much the contract is worth.

Ingram Micro and Microsoft refused to comment.