19 Oct. 2011 – Westcon Group, Australia’s leading distributor for converged networking, security and storage has announced the dates for Imagine 2011, the complimentary business technology roadshow.

Imagine 2011 consists of two events, taking place in Sydney (9th Nov. at Sofitel Sydney Wentworth) and Melbourne (15th Nov at Sofitel Melbourne on Collins) and features a line-up of world renowned keynote speakers and hands on technical demonstrations. The event will offer IT resellers, integrators and technology focussed end users information on emerging technologies and the latest business tactics.

Speakers will include:

 Kevin Bloch, Chief Technology Officer, Cisco
 Paul Bloxham, Chief Economist, HSBC Bank
 Bill Hurley, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Westcon Group
 Clive Gold, Marketing CTO, EMC Corporation, Australia and New Zealand
 Carl Pavletich, Gamification Expert and developer, Visualize IT

There will also be two professionally facilitated technical panels in conjunction with multiple business partners looking to address key issue faced by businesses:

 When will cloud computing deliver on its promise?
o Cisco, EMC, Emerson and Westcon Group
 Will BYO technology open a Pandora’s Box of business problems?
o Avaya, Check Point, McAfee, Riverbed, Palo Alto Networks

Imagine 2011 will also feature the Vendor Showcase Arena where attendees will have a chance to get hands on with technology from world renowned brands. Attendees will also have the chance to speak with industry thought leaders who will be available to offer advice on issues that are currently influencing business.

David Henderson, managing director, Westcon Group said, “Imagine 2011 promises to provide attendees with a wealth of information on emerging technologies and insight into the latest business tactics. With access to key industry figures and leading technology vendors this event offers insight into how to succeed today and how to plan for tomorrow’s world.”

-Ends-

For more information on Imagine 2011 including full agenda, speaker profiles, discussion topics, sponsor information and exhibition details please visit www.westcongroupimagine.com.au

About Weston Group
Westcon Group is the world’s leading specialty distributor of advanced network technology solutions. Through its Westcon and Comstor brands, Westcon Group is a significant sales channel for Avaya, Cisco, Check Point, EMC, Polycom and close to 100 other industry-leading vendors.  Founded in 1985, Westcon Group has particular expertise in converged networking, security, storage and datacentre. The company specialises in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including VoIP, network security and wireless and mobility-based connectivity as well as storage, virtualisation and datacentre requirements. 

Westcon Group’s Westcon and Comstor business practices offer significant benefits to its networking and communications equipment vendor partners as well as its reseller, systems integrator and service provider customers. For vendors, Westcon Group acts as an indirect sales channel, allowing use of its sales force, technical capabilities, logistics services and breadth of customer relationships to cost-effectively distribute vendors’ networking and communications products across six continents including the Americas, Europe, Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific regions.

David will focus on promoting Westcon Group’s vision, securing its thought leadership position and driving innovation. He will work closely with the existing leadership team and use his industry experience to continue to build value for Westcon Group’s vendors and customers.

Wendy O’Keeffe, Westcon Group executive vice president, Asia Pacific said “David brings a wealth of experience to the role and has a great vision for the future of the company. He is joining at an exciting time as we continue to expand into Asia and the company is going from strength to strength.”

David Henderson said. “Innovation is a key focus for me and I am keen to make sure that the vision of the company is clear to everyone we work with. I have been working in leadership roles in the IT industry for over 30 years and look forward to applying my experience to this new role. Westcon Group is a market leader and my job is to make sure it continues to grow and evolve to meet the constantly changing requirements of our vendors and customers.”

Henderson has also held senior leadership roles at Tech Pacific, 3 COM, AST Computer Systems, Toshiba and 3M.

###

About Weston Group
Westcon Group is the world’s leading specialty distributor of advanced network technology solutions. Through its Westcon and Comstor brands, Westcon Group is a significant sales channel for Avaya, Cisco, Check Point, EMC, Polycom and close to 100 other industry-leading vendors.  Founded in 1985, Westcon Group has particular expertise in converged networking, security, storage and datacentre. The company specialises in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including VoIP, network security and wireless and mobility-based connectivity as well as storage, virtualisation and datacentre requirements. 

Westcon Group’s Westcon and Comstor business practices offer significant benefits to its networking and communications equipment vendor partners as well as its reseller, systems integrator and service provider customers. For vendors, Westcon Group acts as an indirect sales channel, allowing use of its sales force, technical capabilities, logistics services and breadth of customer relationships to cost-effectively distribute vendors’ networking and communications products across six continents including the Americas, Europe, Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific regions.

Appoints Lewis Willoughby as South Australian state manager

Sydney, Australia, April 19, 2011 – Westcon Group has opened an office in Adelaide and appointed Lewis Willoughby as South Australian state manager.

Lewis Willoughby brings more than ten years’ experience in channel and IT roles to the South Australian market.

Leigh Howard, managing director, Westcon Group said, “South Australia is a unique market. It has the same breadth of industry verticals as the eastern seaboard, but its size means partners need a distributor they can form a true partnership with to help drive positive and profitable outcomes. I’m confident Westcon Group is that distributor.”

Willoughby will be working with partners to identify new opportunities and help vendors differentiate themselves in the market. The focus is on growing the size of the market opportunity than going after competitors’ market share.

Leigh Howard, managing director, Westcon Group said, “To be successful in distribution you need to work with both the vendors and business partners to create mutually beneficial outcomes. This is an opportunity for Westcon Group to evangelise the brands of partners who do not have a presence in South Australia and to help drive growth for them in the local market. At the same time Westcon Group will help vendors that do have a presence to connect better with existing and new partners.”

ENDS

About Weston Group

Westcon Group is the world’s leading specialty distributor of advanced network technology solutions.  Through its Westcon and Comstor brands, Westcon Group is a significant sales channel for Avaya, Cisco, Check Point, EMC, Polycom and close to 100 other industry-leading vendors.  Founded in 1985, Westcon Group has particular expertise in converged networking, security, storage and datacentre. The company specialises in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including VoIP, network security and wireless and mobility-based connectivity as well as storage, virtualisation and datacentre requirements.  Westcon Group’s Westcon and Comstor business practices offer significant benefits to its networking and communications equipment vendor partners as well as its reseller, systems integrator and service provider customers. For vendors, Westcon Group acts as an indirect sales channel, allowing use of its sales force, technical capabilities, logistics services and breadth of customer relationships to cost-effectively distribute vendors’ networking and communications products across six continents including the Americas, Europe, Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific regions.

Cisco Partner Summit awards are designed to recognise exemplary channel partners who demonstrate best-in-class business practices and serve as a model to the industry.  Areas of consideration include innovative practices, application successes, unique programs, problem-solving and sales approaches.  All winners are selected by a group of Cisco Worldwide Channels and regional theater executives.

“Cisco is proud to partner with so many well respected and industry leading organisations worldwide, and it is my privilege to acknowledge Comstor as a Cisco Partner Summit global award winner,” said Scott Brown, Vice President of Distribution for Worldwide Channels at Cisco. “The Global Distribution Partner of the Year Award presented to Comstor recognises its outstanding achievement as a Cisco channel partner in 2010.”

In addition to Global Distribution Partner of the Year, Comstor was recognised for work in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, North Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.

“For more than a decade, Comstor has a proven track-record as one of Cisco’s premier value added distributors.  Our dedicated teams focus on helping partners worldwide accelerate their businesses by leveraging Cisco solutions across a range of networking, collaboration and data center technologies,” said Jon Pritchard, President, Comstor Worldwide.  “We’re proud of our long-standing relationship with Cisco and are deeply honored they have chosen to recognise us as one of their most highly valued, strategic global distribution partners.”

Comstor was highlighted across a broad range of categories, winning 15 awards globally across country, geography and theatre categories.  Some of the awards representing the depth and breadth of the company’s global business include:

* Global Distribution Partner of the Year
* European Markets: Distribution Partner of the Year
* United Kingdom:  Distribution Partner of the Year
* France:  Distribution Partner of the Year
* Germany:  Distribution Partner of the Year
* Belgium and Luxembourg:  Distribution Partner of the Year
* The Netherlands:  Distribution Partner of the Year
* Spain:  Distribution Partner of the Year
* Brazil:  Distribution Partner of the Year
* North Africa and Levant:  Regional Distribution Partner of the Year
* United Arab Emirates:  Distribution Partner of the Year

Cisco Partner Summit awards are presented at three levels: regional, theatre and global. Cisco Partner Summit global awards reflect the top-performing channel partners within a specific technology market across several geographic regions.  For more information on Comstor and its unsurpassed expertise in Cisco’s full solution suite, please visit www.comstor.com. 

About Westcon Group
Westcon Group, Inc. is a value added distributor of category-leading unified communications, infrastructure and security solutions with a global network of specialty resellers. The company’s Comstor business unit is a dedicated provider of all Cisco networking, collaboration and data centre solutions. Westcon’s teams create unique programs and provide exceptional support to accelerate the business of its global partners. Strong relationships at every level of the Westcon Group organisation enable partners to receive support tailored to their needs. From global logistics and flexible customised financing solutions to pre-sales, technical and engineering assistance, the company works with partners to respond with agility and speed to changing market conditions so they can achieve the fastest time to revenue. Westcon Group’s portfolio of market-leading vendors includes:  Cisco, Juniper Networks, F5, Microsoft, Avaya, Polycom, RSA, Check Point, and Blue Coat. For more information, please visit www.westcongroup.com or www.comstor.com

The new practice is built around Cisco, EMC and allied data centre-focused vendors and is a key component of Westcon’s growth strategy.

Commenting on Heywood’s appointment, Leigh Howard, the Managing Director for Westcon Group Australia said, “Tony has more than 22 years experience in the IT industry and has worked for Westcon previously.

“Tony is a rare commodity in Australia and we’re delighted to have him back working with us.  He has unparalleled industry knowledge as result of working for service providers, distributors and systems integrators across many technology areas.  He is innovative and passionate about everything he does.  He commands a lot of respect in the industry and is exactly the right person to evolve our data centre strategy to a more mature solutions offering which will meet the demands that our channel partners are increasingly making of us.”

Heywood said, “Having spent the last 3 years working in the systems integration space,I have learned a significant amount about the sensitivities of running a reseller and how distribution can significantly add to the profitability of those partners that are focusing on selling solutions to their customers.”

“I’m looking forward to working alongside Leigh and the rest of the team to make this new data centre practice a success and offering Westcon’s partners new solutions they can take to market.”

Tony Heywood replaces Neville James, who recently resigned to spend more time with his family.

About Westcon Group

Westcon Group, Inc. is the leading specialty distributor in networking, security, mobility, convergence and storage solutions for leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Nortel and Avaya, Inc. Through its Westcon, Comstor and Voda One business practices, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers, systems integrators and service providers. Westcon Group has particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information, visit http://www.westcongroup.com

Sydney, Australia, March 8, 2010 – Westcon Group has appointed Leigh Howard as managing director of Australia to replace Wendy O’Keeffe, who will continue to serve as executive vice president for the Asia Pacific region.

Mr. Howard will be responsible for expanding and driving Westcon Group’s growth by continuing to focus on its key technology practices of convergence, networking, storage and security in line with building out the company’s core vendor ecosystems.

Commenting on Howard’s appointment, O’Keeffe says, “Leigh has been with Westcon Group for 13 years working in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.”

“Westcon Group Australia has more than tripled its revenues in the past seven years since Leigh joined as national sales manager in 2002 and his significant contribution has greatly assisted in our growth.”

“Leigh brings to the role a deep understanding of the business and the industry, and he has established excellent working relationships with our vendors, staff and customers. Leigh understands our opportunities for growth and innovation, as revealed in one of his new priorities, which is developing Westcon Group’s growing channel services business.”

Howard commented, “I want Westcon to continue to be a great business partner, to be easy to work with and to consistently delight our customers and vendors.”

###

About Weston Group
Westcon Group, Inc. is the leading specialty distributor in networking, security, mobility, convergence and storage solutions for leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Nortel and Avaya, Inc. Through its Westcon, Comstor and Voda One business practices, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers, systems integrators and service providers. Westcon Group has particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information, visit http://www.westcongroup.com

For more information, please contact:
Melita Powys
Westcon Group
Tel: (02) 9432 1011
Email: melita.powys@westcongroup.com.au