GTDC appoints Alessandro Cattani as Regional Deputy Chairman for Europe
The Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) has appointed Alessandro Cattani as its first Regional Deputy Chairman for Europe. This newly created position allows the GTDC to respond more quickly to market conditions and relevant issues in the EMEA region. Cattani, the CEO of Italian broadliner Esprinet was named a member of the GTDC's executive council last October. In this additional role, he will help drive the strategic direction and initiatives in Europe for the GTDC, an industry association for the world's leading technology distributors that annually generates more than €94 billion in global product and services revenue. GTDC members distribute to 187 countries today―95% of the world. "Alessandro's exceptional knowledge of the European technology distribution market has served Esprinet well for many years and now the GTDC will also benefit from his insights and leadership," commented Tim Curran, CEO of the GTDC. Cattani will work closely with Rick Hamada, CEO of Avnet and chairman of the GTDC, on driving the direction and development of GTDC initiatives in EMEA. "I want to welcome Alessandro to this new position and I look forward to a collaboration that further strengthens distribution relationships in Europe," Hamada commented.
RSA chooses Datastore
Switzerland: already working with its mother company EMC, storage VAD Datastore has been chosen by RSA, the security arm of the storage vendor, as an official distributor in the country.
DirekTek signs new fitness wearables
United Kingdom: consumer electronic and digital photo specialist DirekTek has signed deals with Garmin and Soleus to supply their wearable tech products in the country. The distributor will push the Garmin Vivofit activity tracker and the Soleus GPS Pulse Watch through its reseller network.
A new sales manager for Medium
Germany: AV VAD Medium has appointed Claudia Sattler as sales manager in charge of Bayern and Austria. Claudia is not a newcomer in the IT distribution, as she worked in the past for broadliner Ingram Micro.
Exclusive Networks in the FireEye
Netherlands: network and security VAD Exclusive Networks has been authorized by realtime monitoring editor FireEye to distribute its products in the country.
China named CeBIT Partner Country for 2015
Germany: China has been selected as the official Partner Country for CeBIT 2015. Oliver Frese, member of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe, was joined by Dr. Gong Xiaofeng, Executive Vice Chairman of CCPITECC (the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Electronics & Information Industry Sub-Council) in signing the partnership agreement for the IT flagship show on 7 July in Beijing, in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Germany at the end of March, China and Germany agreed to make 2015 the year of “innovation cooperation” between the two countries. The Partner Country project is expected to have a substantial impact on the innovative dynamics of other sectors of industry, according to Frese. He added that the IT industry was considered a driver and trailblazer for new ideas and developments in the various user industries. The substantial growth of the Chinese IT market and the upsurge in domestic consumption there have transformed China into a highly interesting sales and partnering market for globally active IT enterprises. At the same time, export-driven China’s Partner Country role will provide additional momentum to the current growth dynamic of the Chinese IT market. After the United States, China is the world’s second-biggest IT market. According to a current study by EITO (the European Information Technology Observatory) the Chinese IT market will grow this year by 8.8 percent, which also makes it one of the fastest-growing nations in the area of information technology and telecommunications. Deutsche Messe has enjoyed excellent relations with the world’s most heavily populated nation for many years. Since 1999 it has maintained its own subsidiary in Shanghai, and in 2001 the Hannover-based exhibition company took a stake in the SNIEC exhibition center in Pudong/Shanghai, in a joint venture with Messe München International and Messe Düsseldorf. China is also highly familiar with CeBIT in Hannover. By the early 90s the first Chinese companies were already showcasing their solutions at the flagship IT show. Since that time Chinese participation has grown continually. At the turn of the century the number of Chinese exhibitors went up to 30; by 2003 it was up to more than 100 and by 2009 more than 300. Today, Chinese enterprises have surpassed the 500 mark, with 515 companies occupying display space of some 11,000 square meters at the most recent event in March 2014. Apart from the host nation of Germany, this puts China at the very top of participating nations.
Two new brands for ABO-Storage
Switzerland: storage VAD ABO-Storage has expanded its offer with two new vendors. The distributor introduces the ClusterLion high-availability solutions from Austrian vendor ProLion on the local market, as well as flash storage systems from Pure Storage.
Steljes increases investment in Ireland
Eire: AV VAD Steljes Ireland has increased its investment in the country by moving to larger premises to support the growing demand for interactive technologies in the corporate market. The new office is located in the Greenogue Business Centre in Dublin. It has a purpose-built executive solutions briefing centre equipped with the very latest in interactive technologies including an extensive range of solutions from SMART Technologies, Christie Digital, video walls, connectivity solutions, room control, signage solutions and much more. The facility is available for resellers to use to help them demonstrate a live working solution so that their customers have the opportunity to see and test solutions before they make their purchasing decisions. It is part of Steljes' ongoing investment to help its reseller community grow their businesses profitably. With its broad and diverse product portfolio, Steljes can provide its reseller community with a one stop shop capability – everything from projection right through to visualizers and digital signage – to help companies provide a collaborative working environment enabling them to compete in today’s digitally connected and socially networked business world.
Elko stores on Toshiba
Russia: Japanese giant Toshiba has appointed broadliner Elko as official distributor for its hard drives and SSD.
ESET inks partnership with Gateworx
Egypt: Czech antivirus editor ESET has signed a partnership agreement with network and security VAD Gateworx, for its complete portfolio.
CognitiveTPG expands European market with Ingram Micro
CognitiveTPG, a POS print vendor, has finalized its distribution strategy in the European market by naming Ingram Micro Pan Europe its preferred distributor. Ingram Micro has DC/POS sales offices in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, as well as sales agents throughout Eastern Europe and in Russia.
TP-Link appoints Merlion
Russia: broadliner Merlion has expanded its network offer with TP-Link soho products.
A new head for Additional Design
France: following the retirement of its founder Lucien Dalmasso, Exer Group has promoted Xavier Saillard to new director and business development manager of its storage arm, Additional Design.
Target appointed Chieftec exclusive distributor
United Kingdom: broadliner Target Components has been appointed exclusive distributor by components vendor Chieftec. The agreement covers Chieftec's extensive range of PC and server cases alongside its power supplies. Having established itself as a standalone brand in the early 2000s, Chieftec’s success was hindered by parallel importing distorting prices in local distribution. Chieftec's Senior Territory Manager, Roger Oka, explains, "this made it difficult for people to compete with the etailers on price, so we made our exit from the UK to concentrate back on the system integrator market. But in Q1 this year, we decided to reintroduce the Chieftec back to the UK, having learned from our mistakes. This time we knew we wanted an exclusive, long-term UK distribution partner that understood, and had access to, a broad reach of independent resellers, particularly systems builders and PC specialists – our search was successful once we met Target." The Chieftec range of cases and PSUs will also be available on Target's In-Store PC Builder and Custom PC Builder configurators, giving resellers even more options in building their perfect system.
Intellicomp monitors activity with Whitebox Security
Germany: security and storage VAD Intellicomp has added the WhiteOPS realtime forensics platform from Whitebox Security to its portfolio.
EBV launches new website for industrial market
Semiconductor specialist EBV Elektronik is now offering customers comprehensive online information on all applications, markets and technologies in the industrial segment, such as manufacturing, energy management and transportation. EBV's Industrial website not only give users an overview of markets and applications, but also offers a wealth of relevant information, from general knowledge to detailed descriptions of applications. Visitors to EBV's Industrial website can use precision zoom-in to move from the application level to the semiconductor area by simply clicking on the relevant product in the overview. This takes them to specifics, such as technical specifications and logistics details, and also opens up an individualised, pre-filled form that allows individuals interested to contact the appropriate EBV product specialist. In terms of markets, the background information on the Industrial website covers everything from manufacturing electronics and energy management through to electronics in the primary sector and the service industry. The Broadcast Applications area, by way of example, shows just how completely the website covers the current range of applications. It takes users to microsites that offer detailed information on testing and measurement, factory automation, embedded computing, motor control and power conversion, among other items. From there, the user is only one click away from viewing semiconductors that can be used specifically with the application in question.
AccessData, ARM ink distribution agreement
South Africa: incident resolution solutions vendor AccessData has officially inked a distribution deal with security VAD African Risk Mitigation (ARM). The two companies are introducing AccessData's new ResolutionOne Platform to Africa, which they tout as the world's first Continuous Automated Incident Resolution platform, delivering comprehensive, real-time insight, analysis, response and resolution of data incidents.
Tarox displays on LG
Germany: broadliner Tarox has started the distribution of a selection of LG videoprojectors.
Achab appoints Alessio Urban as technical support manager
Italy: network and security VAD Achab has appointed Alessio Urban as Technical Support Manager. He will take in charge the teamwork of the technical support, reporting directly to Andrea Veca, the CEO of the distributor.
Tech Data hires from SFR
France: broadliner Tech Data has hired Marc Hia Balié from SFR as new marketing, communication and purchase director.
