Attachmate and Ingram Micro part ways in the UK

Terminal emulation vendor to work solely with Exclusive Networks after eight-year relationship with Ingram ends

Software vendor Attachmate has moved to a sole-distributor model in the UK after concluding its 90-day notice period with long-time ally Ingram Micro.

The duo ended their eight-year relationship yesterday after concluding their strategies had drifted apart. Attachmate, which is part of the Attachmate Group alongside the Novell, SuSE and NetIQ brands, will now work solely through Exclusive Networks.

Camille Morgan, UK channel manager at Attachmate – which works in the fields of terminal emulation, managed file transfer and enterprise fraud management – stressed the decision was both mutual and amicable.

"Ingram has served us remarkably well, it was just time for a change," she explained.

"Our key focus moving forward is heavily around desktop refreshes, standardisation and Windows 7. Ingram is a very large organisation that focuses more on newer virtualisation and cloud technologies and our strategies had drifted apart."

Attachmate is set to launch a partner programme in June and was keen to throw its weight behind just one distributor.

"It had to be one or the other and Exclusive has a lot more in its portfolio that can help us explore more opportunities," Morgan said.

Chris Walsh, sales director at Exclusive Networks, said his firm already has a relationship with the majority of Attachmate's 80 or so active UK resellers.

"I would like to think those working through Ingram can get an increased level of service. With the imminent launch of the new partner programme, we feel we are in a good position to deliver the Attachmate message to the channel."

Attachmate operates sole-distributor models in several other European territories and Walsh insisted resellers will benefit from the change in the UK.

"This allows us to focus on growing the channel, not fighting with another distributor for business," he said.

Ingram Micro declined to comment.