Converged communications player Westcon signed an agreement with Cisco that will see it become a global distributor.
The deal means the subsidiary of locally-listed Datatec will provide Cisco greater access to the emerging markets, including Africa and the Middle East, South America and Asia.
According to a statement released by Datatec this morning, Westcon supplied more than $1.7 billion of Cisco networking equipment to around 60 countries last year.
The agreement could prove a boon for Datatec, which has posted falling revenue over the last financial period. Westcon has been mulling job cuts following the fall out from the global financial crisis.
However, despite an expected drop in product revenue of between 10% and 15% in its coming financial year-end report, Datatec remains positive it will pick up the slack in the coming year. Westcon is expected to perform better than predictions of the year before.
Late last year, Datatec bought a stake in a lucrative Indian business, Inflow Technologies, which broadens the company`s access to the emerging market country. Inflow has alliances with 22 global technology vendors, including CheckPoint, Nokia, McAfee, Ironport, Websense, Radware, NetApp and Quantum.
Datatec plans to incorporate those alliances into the Westcon brand. The Inflow purchase followed a Turkish acquisition made in the middle of 2007, as well as a "sizable" Brazil buy in May last year.
Datatec`s last trading statement, pre-empting financials for its year-end, shows the company moved to an overall net cash position from a net debt position.
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