Pecking order changes at Datrontech

Two more high-profile members of Data Connectivity's management left last week, but James Morgan, its new managing director, has hit back at allegations that he lacks the experience to lead the troubled networking distributor.

Two more high-profile members of Data Connectivity's (DC's) management left last week, but James Morgan, its new managing director, has hit back at allegations that he lacks the experience to lead the troubled networking distributor.

Adding to a difficult week, Scott Dobson, head of product development, and Jane Halloran, sales manager, have left the company. Earlier, Morgan refuted claims that Ray Peck, chief executive of DC's parent Datrontech group, had unofficially quit after being misled about the state of the firm.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Robin Falconer, general manager of Datrontech Retail, will inherit Morgan's position at Datrontech UK.

DC has lost a number of senior staff recently. Graham Smee, managing director, left two months ago to join startup voice and data rival Equip, headed by his DC predecessor Neil Ledger. The latest resignation rumour is of sales director Steve Worrel.

Questions still remain over the future of Ian Boyle, who had been running the management team before Morgan's appointment. Ledger questioned Morgan's lack of networking experience last week.

It is also feared that DC's relationship with Ericsson may be jeopardised because so many senior managers have left. Ericsson has now signed a distribution agreement with Equip.

"Some of these stories have been way off the mark," said Morgan. "We have a long history with Ericsson and are involved in a lot of projects with them. The only change is we will deal direct with Ericsson now."

"I've been in IT distribution 11 years, at networking companies like Interquad and Computer 2000," he added. "It's ludicrous to say we're not an experienced team. Besides, we've still got the same strength of engineers and pre-sales people. A few people have gone off and are doing their own thing. Good luck to them."

First published in Computer Reseller News