C2000 tipped to sell Workstation 2000

Computer 2000 (C2000) has signed a letter of intent to sell its Compaq-Alpha business Workstation 2000 to an unnamed buyer by the end of this month.

Computer 2000 (C2000) has signed a letter of intent to sell its Compaq-Alpha business Workstation 2000 to an unnamed buyer by the end of this month.

Graeme Watt, UK and Nordic regional managing director for C2000, confirmed the development but refused to confirm or deny that German distributor Magirus was the mystery buyer. Watt also refused to comment whether the buyer would be a foreign organisation, despite stating last week that C2000 planned only to talk to UK-based companies.

If the sale to Magirus goes ahead, the deal would be the distributor's second recent high-end server purchase as it looks to gain a strong foothold in the UK market. Last month Magirus bought the IBM and Hewlett Packard Unix division of Ingram UK for an undisclosed fee.

Nick Offin, director of the business partner unit at Compaq, confirmed that the new Workstation 2000 owner would need to reapply for accreditation as a Certified Integration Partner (CIP). C2000 had only just gained the CIP status before it announced the sale of the division.

Magirus, however, already holds Compaq accreditation in Germany, and Offin confirmed that this would make a significant difference in the case of a foreign business trying to enter the UK market. Magirus already held both Hewlett Packard and IBM accreditation before it purchased its Unix division from Ideal.

Magirus was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, HP has appointed C2000 as an official distributor for the original equipment manufacturer versions of its digital audio tape drives, while Novell has added the full range of its products to C2000's InTouch Licensing On Line service.

First appeared in Computer Reseller News