Firstpoint parts with AST over maintenance

AST is to end its relationship with third-party maintenance provider Firstpoint.

The nine-month agreement is due to be scrapped by the end of March following Firstpoint?s failure to meet the vendor?s minimum quality threshold. Firstpoint carried out maintenance on AST?s Advantage home PCs.

ICL Sorbus will now handle all AST?s support. But the vendor hasn?t ruled out signing another third party to bolster its maintenance offering.

Con Mallon, AST marketing director, said the decision to stop using Firstpoint followed prolonged discussions. ?As a result of regular reviews both parties came to realise that things simply weren?t working. We?re now looking to dissolve the relationship as amicably as possible.?

Jim Stoddart, Firstpoint MD, said his company was more used to dealing with corporate users. ?Our normal clients are businesses, like Reuters or British Rail. They?re all blue chip clients. We?re countrywide and we?re doing quite well.?