Specialty distributor Westcon Group has announced that it is spinning off its Cisco business under a new brand name, Comstor Worldwide, a move that the distributor says will allow it to better support its Cisco resellers and get closer to its biggest vendor.
William Corbin, executive vice president of the Comstor Worldwide business, said Cisco represents a majority – 54 per cent – of Westcon Group’s business, and that the Comstor name is already well associated with Cisco around the world, but it new to Canada and some other regions, most notably Brazil.
“The Comstor name is very well recognized as a value distribution brand in US and in Europe, but we’re not making it a separate company with separate management and separate P&Ls.”
In Canada, Comstor will be separated from the rest of the Westcon business, but will be managed in a “dotted line” management structure, with Comstor Canada chief Dan Forbes reporting in to both Comstor Worldwide headquarters and Westcon Canada chief Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy.
“Comstor will be co-branded with Westcon, but the strength of [the Comstor] brand, globally, helps enhance the awareness we have in Canada with Cisco,” Smurthwaite-Murphy said.
Rick Graham, vice president of distribution and channel operations at Cisco Canada, said the newly reorganized distribution will “bring a lot of value to Canadian partners,” and that Cisco and Westcon were often asked by Westcon’s reseller base when they would get access to some of the same resources and tools available to US-based Comstor partners.
“As we move to more of an architectural approach, some of the things that Comstor has developed fall in line with what we’re dong, and will help our partners with selling more solutions,” Graham said.
