Vcon bosses make sudden departure
UK managing director and chief engineer quit the video conferencing specialist.
The UK managing director and chief engineer of video conferencing specialist Vcon have abruptly left the company.
David Shimell and Craig Brown quit the Maidenhead-based firm towards the end of last month, but were reluctant to give details and claimed that their departure was on "friendly terms".
"I have resigned from the company," Shimell confirmed to vnunet.com's sister publication Computer Reseller News, but he added that he couldn't go into further details "because of a number of ongoing discussions". "Until everything has been sorted out it is very difficult to comment," he added.
Vcon, which sells through the channel, develops and manufactures personal and group video conferencing systems for a variety of communication networks. The firm was set up in 1994 and has offices in the US, Germany, UK, Spain, France and China. Its headquarters are in Israel.
One UK channel partner, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Vcon had angered a lot of its partners with its dual-channel approach, dealing with both distributors and resellers.
"Our relationship is weakening, to be honest, because it is getting harder for us to deal with them," the partner said, claiming that Vcon is "losing interest" in some partners. He added that he didn't understand why Vcon felt it needed a dual partner approach, because it causes confusion.
Andreas Wienhold, European vice president at Vcon, explained that the company is "sorry" that Shimell is no longer with the firm. "He was a very valuable asset, and added a lot of value to Vcon's worldwide operation," he said.
Wienhold also confirmed that Dave Travers has taken over responsibility for Vcon's UK operation and "will continue the successful development of our UK business".
In terms of the channel, Wienhold said that Vcon is "fully committed" to resellers, and is not selling anything direct. "We do have direct relationships with strategic resellers, but we also work with distribution partners," he maintained. "That is our strategy all over the world."
He added that the model helps the firm to provide "maximum technical and sales support".