Azlan clinches Axis UK supply contract

Agreement with thin server firm fills gap in distributor portfolio.

Thin server specialist Axis Communications has revealed it isfolio. appointing Azlan to distribute its products in the UK.

The move comes one month after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) pulled the plug on its investigation into suspected offences of false accounting at Azlan due to insufficient evidence to prosecute (PC Dealer, 20 January).

Despite having worked with Azlan in France and Germany for more than a year, Axis denied that the timing of the decision in the UK was solely down to the conclusion of the SFO inquiry.

Brain Flasck, UK managing director of Axis, said: 'Obviously, we have been looking at the situation with the SFO, but there were lots of other factors involved in the timing of the agreement. We have been setting up the infrastructure in the UK for the past year and have been in discussions with Azlan UK since November.'

Axis' main focus is print servers and the deal with Azlan is aimed at helping it regain its number two slot in Europe behind Hewlett Packard in the market from Intel.

The print server sector will be worth #35 million this year and the Swedish company intends to take a 15 per cent market share.

Flasck claimed there had been a turnaround at Azlan: 'Azlan hit an all-time high a couple of months ago. It also ran an advertising campaign for the first time in a long while. The firm is getting back on its feet and all I sense from Azlan at the moment is optimism.'

The deal with Axis fills a gap in Azlan's product portfolio. The distributor had offered Castelle print servers in the past but no longer does so and has had no products in this area since.

Richard Pryor-Jones, managing director of Azlan, said: 'We are pleased that this relationship has been extended to the UK. The Axis product range will complement our existing portfolio.'