ABC Data to roll out its own cloud marketplace
2017-01-10

Polish broadliner ABC Data is planning to launch its own cloud services platform in the coming months. The firm currently offers an e-commerce platform named InterLink, but will now offer its partners cloud services from its vendor portfolio through a subscription-based model. Weiss said the cloud platform - which will be called CloudLink - is still in its early stages of development and could not name vendors involved, but said "dozens" of local and global vendors have already expressed an interest. "It depends on how quickly we will be able to fill the platform with our vendors. It is in the early stages; I am talking to vendors at the moment. The cloud platform will offer a subscription-based service model and give us a competitive advantage in the market so we are able to serve our customers better", said Ilona Weiss, ABC Data's CEO. The cloud platform will become available throughout all of its eight territories upon launch, including Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia (source: Channelnomics Europe).

ABC Data acquires S4E
2016-09-29

Poland: broadliner ABC Data has signed an investment agreement for the purchase of shares of S4E. "We assume we will significantly increase the revenues of the Group from the sales of VAD products and services up to €360m in 2018 due to this transaction. I am convinced that the acquisition of S4E will positively influence the increase of our national IT distribution market share", Ilona Weiss, President of the Management Board of ABC Data, informs.

After achieving all principles of the agreement, over 80% of shares in the share capital of S4E will be acquired by ABC Data. The remaining shares will be in dispersed ownership of shareholders. The total amount of the transaction will depend on the performance of the business objectives by the sellers and the Company and will equal between €4.5 and €6m. As announced in the strategy of the company for the years 2016-2018, ABC Data dynamically develops its portfolio of specialised VAD products and services. Highly qualified personnel provides the company's partners with professional support in the field of the projects they execute related to, among others, developing modern data centre infrastructure, local computer networks, monitoring systems or designing and implementing dedicated solutions. The decision on the acquisition of S4E S.A. has been influenced, among others, by the huge potential in the development of the area of products and services with added value. As a result of this acquisition, ABC Data will develop a comprehensive and the broadest portfolio of VAD products and services in Poland and in the CEE region.

"The acquisition of S4E will accelerate the dynamic growth both of the activity area concerning VAD products and services and of the whole Group", Ilona Weiss, President of the Management Board of ABC Data, emphasizes.

"Acquiring such a strong strategic investor as ABC Data and the possibility of exchanging the know-how will allow us to perform our business objectives with even higher intensity. I am convinced that, being able to draw on the experience and the distribution network of ABC Data, we will significantly increase the scope of operation in the VAD products and services sector and we will develop the most comprehensive and scalable offering in this area on the market", Paweł Piętka, President of the Management Board of S4E, says.

As a result of the transaction, S4E will operate within the ABC Data Group; however, it will remain a separate entity. S4E has been conducting business for 15 years and achieves very good results – in the 2015 financial year the company has earned €54m sales revenues, €1m operational activity profit and €0.75m net profit. The results of S4E will be included in the consolidated results of the ABC Data Group from the moment of acquiring the controlling interest of shares, which shall take place on 31 March 2017 at the latest.

Distree 2016: a fill of innovations
2016-03-22

After a two-year gap, ITdistri was back at Distree EMEA. The event has evolved, becoming much larger in terms of surface area and number of exhibitors. Some visitors regretted a lack of major vendors, while others wished more African retailers and distributors: "in the past, we liked to come to Distree EMEA to meet companies from the whole region. Now, if we want to expand our coverage of the African continent, we ought to go to Distree Africa, which means more costs and time consumed for us. And even there, we will miss many French speaking distributors", one of them said anonymously. Nevertheless, the event was a success, with about 250 distributors, 150 retailers and etailers and about 130 exhibitors (including about 15 distributors wishing to expand their business in Europe or meet some of their existing customers in the region, including ABC Data, ATC, Avnet Technology Solutions, Daymen, GTI, IDCP, Inforlandia, Innelec Multimédia, Nedis, NTT System, Proks, PSA Parts, Tech Data Europe and Tekpoint). Singapore came in force, with a contingent of 10 companies overseen by the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Beside their one-to-one meetings, visitors could participate to workshops, conferences and keynote, to get valuable insight about the major trends of the consumer markets in the region, with analysts and consulting companies such as GfK, Early Metrics, Rude Baguette, Quadmark or Ocean Solutions.

The exhibit gave much room and space to wearables and smart objects. Among interesting vendors, ITdistri has selected the following companies:

• Trackr, which has developed a Bluetooth tracking device and was looking for etailers, through its distributor Bullboat
• More Technology, a Chinese company, represented in the EMEA region by the American company Sightline, which was presenting a connected weighing scale with a safe mode for pacemaker users and pregnant women. More Technology is looking for distributors, etailers and retailers everywhere in the EMEA region
• Tunkmatik, a Turkish vendor used to Distree, was presenting, among others, the Nano UPS, the first UPS dedicated to small devices like routers or DSL modems
• The American vendor Tangram Factory is selling Smart Rope, a smart skipping rope and already planning a smart dumbbell. It is already distributed by the German Mac specialist Macland in the DACH region as well as through some retailers in direct. It is now looking for more distributors in other European countries
• German Tado and Dutch Thermostart have developed smart, connected thermostats as well as, for Tado, an air conditioning smart control system. Thermostart is distributed in the Netherlands by Navstar and Tado in Germany by Komsa (but also available through Difox). They are both looking forward expanding beyond their home markets, everywhere in Europe.
• American physical security veteran First Alert, which is already distributed in Western Europe, is looking for new distributors in Eastern Europe, Russia and Middle East. It was presenting on Distree its One Link connected carbon monoxide detector.
• Swiss startup Incharge was presenting its crowdfunded Lightning, Micro USB and Micro USB C micro-cables and was looking for distributors anywhere in the EMEA region
• Singaporean Ospicon was showcasing its Sleepmat STS100, a sleeping mattress for babies, which include speakers to stream music and talk to the babies, a microphone to monitor his/her sounds and, thanks to fiber optic technology, no electromagnetic radiations. Already available in several Asian countries, the Sleepmat is waiting for distributors, etailers and retailers in the EMEA region.
• Singaporean Oaxis was presenting its e-ink case for iPhone 6 as well as other products. The e-ink case includes photo display and ebook functions, and will include more through future firmware updates. Here again, Oaxis is looking for distributors, etailers and retailers everywhere.
• The universal charging dock from German vendor Alldock has attracted much attention, especially its handmade wooden version. Beside incumbent distributor AIV in Germany, Alldock is looking for more distributors, etailers en retailers everywhere in the EMEA region.
• German vendor Hotsplot was a bit of an intruder among the exhibitors, as its product, a remote-controlled public Wifi hotspot management solution which is compatible with all wifi routers and hotspots, would be better distributed through network VADs
• Dutch Wakawaka was targeting more specifically the emerging or outdoor activity markets with its light-charging universal battery and LED light.
• Hong-Kong company Elari won the Diamond Award with its Cardphone, an anti-smartphone the size of a credit card, which can be used in conjunction with any smartphone through Bluetooth, to optimize the use of home and travel SIM cards. The Cardphone is available in the EMEA region here and there, for example through SCP Technologies in France, One Stop Mobile in the Netherlands or Vitacom in Romania. The company is looking forward expanding its distribution network in the EMEA region with more distributors in countries where it is absent for the time being.

New vendors were not the only ones to present new products. Aiptek presented, a few days before the Cebit event in Germany, its DG-VTa, a dongle which can be connected easily via HDMI to a beamer to turn any projection surface into an interactive touchscreen display. The supplied pen serves as a sensor – when running it over the projection surface, the "DG-VTa" notices it like a touchscreen and transfers the signals accordingly. Inno3d, which is better know for its graphic cards, was showcasing its 3D printers (distributed quietly since a few month by German distributor API) and its Bluetooth LED bulbs. So, more than ever, Distree remains the place to be, to discover the major trends and new products to be distributed in the EMEA region over the months and years to come…

More countries for ABC Data
2015-07-30

Unveiling the development strategy of the group, the management board of Polish broadliner ABC Data plans to enter the markets of Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia by 2018, mainly through acquisitions of local distributors. These new markets ought to make the distributor become the leading distributor in Central and Eastern Europe by then. Currently and beside Poland (under its own brand and as Mac specialist iSource), ABC Data is present in Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia (source: CRN Polska).

iSource on the phone with ZTE
2014-09-16

Poland: Mac specialist iSource has expanded its portfolio with ZTE smartphones, 3G modems and routers.

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