Xirrus and Wick Hill in 'amicable' UK split

Duo's UK partnership breaks down after less than two years

Distributor Wick Hill is looking to add a wireless LAN vendor to its portfolio after undergoing an "amicable" separation with Xirrus.

Xirrus and Wick Hill called time on their short-lived alliance at the beginning of the month, leaving the vendor with two UK distributors in the shape of e92plus and recently signed outfit Westcon.

Wick Hill chairman Ian Kilpatrick said the distributor is actively reviewing its wireless portfolio in the wake of the decision to split, which he said occurred several months ago. The duo only inked their pact, which was designed to target resellers in verticals such as education and healthcare, in September 2012.

"We as a business did 40 per cent growth last year across the UK and DACH region," Kilpatrick said. "We reviewed our portfolio for this year and had an amicable split with Xirrus. They have some nice products and we wish them all the success."

Xirrus has undergone a local management reshuffle in recent weeks, with a new vice president for EMEA arriving this month in the shape of Duncan Fisken.

Don Scott, international channel director at Xirrus – who himself only came on board in May – struck a similarly conciliatory tone in his statement to CRN.

"While Xirrus were generally pleased with the performance of our partnership with Wick Hill, we felt our channel strategy needed to be aligned to a more pan-EMEA model in order to capitalise on growth opportunities," Scott said. "Wick Hill provide an excellent service and we wish them every success."