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Azlan "committed to UC" despite Avaya rumours

Questions raised over future of Avaya's relationship with one of its four UK distributors

Avaya and Azlan are staying tight-lipped on rumours they are scaling back their relationship in the UK.

Speculation that the comms vendor will move from four to three UK distributors has built over the last year.

In May, then managing director Lee Shorten hinted the current line-up of Westcon, ScanSource Communications, Avnet and Azlan could be trimmed.

Although there is no confirmation that Avaya is parting company with Azlan, ChannelWeb understands the relationship is at least being diminished as the distributor focuses on other parts of its unified communications (UC) portfolio.

Andy Dow, commercial director at Azlan UK parent Computer 2000 (pictured), said: "There is no reduction in our investment or focus on UC. It is a critical area of our future development and investment."

Azlan was only given access to Avaya's full portfolio last summer. It was previously a Nortel distributor.

One source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Azlan had failed to make much headway, with Westcon remaining dominant.

"With 80 per cent of business still done by Westcon, it's almost impossible for someone to come in and move the needle," he said.

An Avaya representative said the firm had no comment to make. "We have not made any announcements on changes in our partner strategy," she said.

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