Cisco ousts IBM as Logicalis' top UK vendor

Logicalis says it grew 26 per cent with Cisco in the networking vendor's financial year just ended

Logicalis has revealed that Cisco is now its largest UK vendor after enjoying a barnstorming 12 months with the networking vendor.

Talking to CRN, Logicalis' UK managing director Mark Starkey (pictured) revealed the integrator grew 26 per cent with Cisco in its financial year ending 30 July, meaning it has now displaced IBM as Logicalis' top revenue generator.

Logicalis' Cisco services business grew 30 per cent over the last 12 months, with product sales up 25 per cent.

Starkey attributed the growth to Logicalis' success selling solutions into the midmarket, where its Cisco sales grew 40 per cent. Enterprise grew 30 per cent, while public sector was flat.

"We are going a lot wider than traditional networking. We're doing a huge amount around wireless and around datacentre, which is doing particularly well for us," he said.

The UK's economic recovery appears to be gathering steam but Starkey said this had not translated into higher spending among all large businesses.

"A lot of large UK businesses are not investing as they should be. The recovery [there] is in pockets and I see the real growth as being in the midmarket," he said.

Overall, products now account for 60 per cent of Logicalis' UK sales but services generate more than 50 per cent of the margin, Starkey said.

Logicalis traditionally counted IBM as its top UK vendor by revenue but Starkey said the mix had been impacted by events currently unfolding at Big Blue.

"About 18 months ago we really started to see the ramp up with Cisco," he said.

"There's been a lot of change in the IBM world and we are reflecting that."