Pragma smashes targets laid out by Ericsson-LG

Distributor has signed up 70 resellers for IP PBX vendor since launch last summer

A fledgling distributor set up to create a UK channel for IP PBX outfit Ericsson-LG claims it has smashed its targets in its first six months of trading.

Pragma Distribution, which was founded by three former Crane executives last summer, is now trading with 70 reseller partners as it continues to bring more of Ericsson-LG 's voice, data and UC kit into the country.

Talking to ChannelWeb, managing director Tim Brooks said Pragma is trading 160 per cent ahead of the annual plan laid out by the duo when the distributor began trading last September.

The Burgess Hill-based firm now has 11 staff, with headcount set to double by the end of this year, Brooks said.

Although Ericsson-LG is still a relatively obscure name in the UK voice and data space, Brooks said its proposition stacks up well against the likes of Avaya, Cisco and Mitel.

"To have a single, cost-effective platform that can scale from five to 1,005 users is something our competitors struggle to achieve," he said.

"We have a solution which delivers that today that has a complementary range of applications that sits alongside it. And the price points and margins are significantly better than the competition."

Pragma claims to have already trained more than 120 reseller staff on Ericsson-LG 's core IPECS IP PBX platform.

It currently works solely with Ericsson-LG but is in the process of developing a CTI client with a third-party firm designed to bring the power of IP telephony to the desktop.

"Where there are gaps in the core portfolio we will work with local providers to address that. But that is secondary to the core mission, which is to grow Ericsson-LG's revenue and market share in the UK," said Brooks.

He added that the focus now is on ensuring resellers comprehend the full breadth of Ericsson-LG 's portfolio, including its range of UC, call recording and mobility applications, video terminals and DECT Wi-Fi handsets.

Although he declined to comment on Avnet's decision to close its UK UC division last week, Brooks argued that specialist comms kit does not lend itself to broadline distribution.

"The team we have here has many years of experience supporting telephony, IP telephony and UC," he said. "A number of organisations tried to move into the voice space and found it very difficult as it was not as plug-and-play as they believed. Voice resellers want to partner with suppliers who have the same heritage in voice as they have."