Xirrus and VCW part ways

Wireless vendor serves notice to VCW as it moves forward with e92plus

Wireless LAN vendor Xirrus has served 60 days' notice to Voice Comms Warehouse (VCW) as it moves to a sole-distributor model in the UK.

E92plus will act as Xirrus' exclusive UK distributor after new management concluded that the competition inherent in a multi-distributor strategy was complicating pricing for its 25 UK resellers.

Sean Larner (pictured), who joined Xirrus in May as vice president of EMEA sales, said that VCW has been given until mid-August to clear its stock.

"We are trying to part as amicably as possible and have not done this for anything but pure business reasons," Larner said.

E92plus' retention was based on several criteria including its capabilities, breadth of partners and investment in Xirrus, Larner said.

Xirrus is also looking to expand the number of resellers it works with directly to penetrate its core vertical markets of education, healthcare and public events. Only European Electronique and Herbert Retail currently buy direct from the vendor.

Graham Fox, managing director of VCW, said the duo had done a roaring trade last year and described the split as mutual and amicable.

"I think Xirrus recognised that we were not going to give them the focus they wanted," Fox said.

"Unlike e92plus, we work with a number of other wireless vendors including Blue Socket and RadWin. We are launching a new division, VCW Wireless, next month, after which any number of other, more recognised mainstream wireless manufacturers will join that portfolio."

Mukesh Gupta, managing director of e92plus, said: "Xirrus is a great product but more work needs to be done to increase its brand awareness. This allows us to invest more into developing the product through training, evaluation units and inventory."

Xirrus specialises in high-density environments such as schools and Larner rubbished the latest warnings over the use of Wi-Fi in classrooms.

"It has had no impact on our sales; we had a record quarter last quarter," he said. "It was a ludicrous statement that made no sense to anyone in the industry."