Westcon Buys Largest U.S. Nortel Voice Distributor

Westcon Group North America is upping the ante in the voice/data converged solutions market by buying the largest Nortel Networks voice products distributor in the United States.

Westcon said it has purchased for an undisclosed sum the Buffalo, N.Y.-based distribution arm of privately held Ronco Communications and Electronics. Westcon, Tarrytown, N.Y., said the deal makes it the leading distributor of Nortel voice/data products in North America and one of the largest distributors of Nortel products in the world. Ronco said it will retain its Nortel reseller business and use the proceeds from the deal to provide even more services to its end-user customers as a Nortel Elite Advantage partner.

Westcon said the entire Ronco distribution team including Ronco President of Distribution Kurt Ruesch, who has overseen a group that has won plaudits from Ronco’s 150 voice partners for outstanding service, will move to Westcon. Ruesch will become vice president and general manager of convergence.

“This enhances our ability to position Westcon as the leading convergence distributor,” said Anthony Daley, executive vice president of the Americas for Westcon Group Inc. “We want to be the dominant force with every manufacturer we represent in this market.”

Westcon already has strong distribution ties with Cisco Systems and Avaya, the other leading convergence players.

“There is no one that is going to be close to us with the convergence go-to-market strategy we have,” boasted Daley. “Absolutely no one can touch the portfolio we have.”

Jeff Taylor, vice president of North American channel and distribution at Nortel, Brampton, Ontario, described the deal as a “landmark opportunity for our resellers to procure converged solutions” from a single distributor. “This is a significant breakthrough,” he said. “This absolutely takes it to another level.”

He also said Nortel is reaffirming its partner-centric go-to-market strategy with its new Project Renaissance initiative, aimed at making it easier for partners to do business with the company. The reinvigorated channel push comes as part of Nortel’s effort to move beyond an accounting scandal that led to the ouster of several top executives in 2004.

Solution providers agree that the merger creates a formidable force in voice/data convergence solutions that could mean higher margins for partners teaming with Westcon.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Westcon’s pockets are pretty deep. We really feel the combination of Ronco’s experience and Westcon’s size and power is going to benefit us in terms of resources, purchasing power, creativity to bundle services and product we didn’t have access to before,” said Alan Burdine, vice president of Communications Resources, a Chattanooga, Tenn., Nortel Premium Advantage partner that partnered with Ronco.