Insight Enterprises leaps into Ireland

Corporate reseller cuts ribbon on Dublin outpost

Insight Enterprises has opened a Dublin office to spearhead an assault on the Irish mid-market.

The corporate reseller had previously served Ireland from the UK and Europe but said the Dublin outpost would allow it to expand its local software licensing, software services and cloud computing sales.

The operation will be overseen by Insight's vice president of global sales, Patrick McNally.

Stuart Fenton, president of EMEA and APAC at Insight (pictured), said few of the large corporate resellers have a direct presence in Ireland, Computacenter and SCC being notable exceptions.

"We are delighted to be opening a new office in Dublin to service the market," he told ChannelWeb.

"We think there are some very strong Irish enterprise clients and a reasonably healthy mid-market. We look forward to providing some healthy competition that will bring great value to that client sector."

ChannelWeb understands that Insight's Irish presence will be based partly on a small number of staff and Microsoft volume licensing customer contracts it has acquired from Fujitsu. Insight and Fujitsu have been partners in the UK since Fujitsu relinquished its Microsoft LAR status in 2008."

In a statement sent to ChannelWeb, Fujitsu confirmed: "Fujitsu Ireland previously had an LAR agreement directly with Microsoft. Fujitsu took the decision to terminate this agreement and will use Insight for customer sourcing in Ireland. As a result, one person will transfer from Fujitsu Ireland to Insight."

Fenton refused to comment further on this, but said: "We have always sold into Ireland from Europe but that opportunity has recently become a little bit larger. We are already a multimillion-euro business in that market and we anticipate continued growth in software licensing, software services and cloud computing."

According to CRN's Top VARs report, which was launched today, US-based Insight is currently the UK's third-largest reseller, with local revenue of more than £400m.