3Com South Africa has signalled its intention to substantially grow its share of the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) networking market with the appointment of Axiz as its third distributor.
In terms of the appointment, Axiz is to focus on the SME networking sector, leaving 3Com`s other two distributors, Westcon and Comztek, to develop their traditional markets that are predominately in the larger sector.
"As the networking vendor of choice for small businesses worldwide, 3Com offers products with a unique combination of automated features, security and reliability at an affordable price," says Chris van Niekerk, country manager for 3Com SA.
"The SME market in SA is poised for growth and we see Axiz`s appointment as bringing on board a company with a successful SME track record that will help us and our reseller partners drive this market."
In the past, Axiz has specialised in the distribution of Intel SME networking products and has built up a significant share of the Intel market in SA.
"We`ve invested heavily in building our SME market, so when Intel changed its networking strategy, we needed another vendor. 3Com was the natural choice. The strength of the brand and the breadth of its products gives us everything we were losing from Intel," says Craig Brunsden, franchise manager at Axiz.
The company, which is headquartered in Johannesburg, with branches in Durban and Cape Town, will distribute 3Com`s OfficeConnect and Baseline ranges of products, its Network Interface Cards and wireless products. These products have been designed as affordable and easy to use networking solutions for smaller companies with limited or no in-house IT expertise.
Both 3Com and Axiz believe they will help drive the projected growth in the SME sector in SA in the year ahead as more smaller companies look to benefit from networking their offices.
"Interest in wireless networking is growing and will become a major market in the future, though currently we see the biggest opportunities in the 10 to 50 user environments," adds Brunsden.
Commenting on the appointment of a third distributor, Van Niekerk says a three-distributor model has always been favoured by 3Com.
"We previously had a third South African distributor, LANDesign, which was acquired by Comztek. In appointing a third distributor again, we`re looking to restore our level of activity in the marketplace while increasing our emphasis on the SME space without diluting the markets of our existing distributors - who continue to meet our expectations at the enterprise level," he says.
"We`re very impressed with the way Axiz does business. They are well respected in the marketplace and are a well organised company with a solid channel support structure, so we`re confident they can meet our goals," concludes Van Niekerk.
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