Emerson adds Anixter to distie books

Emerson Network Power, has appointed Anixter as a distribution partner for Australia and New Zealand.

Under the agreement Anixter has added the vendor's Liebert UPS power protection, racking, switching and monitoring products to its portfolio in A/NZ.

Peter Spiteri, marketing and communications director at Emerson A/NZ told CRN the two companiese have been working closely together in other parts of the world.

"The agreement was a perfect fit," he said.

"There were agreements between the two companies in various parts of the world and our relationship is big in the US."

Spiteri said the addition of Anixter would be complementary with existing partner Westcon.

"Anixter's customers were very much the type of guys that go in lay the physical cabling for a building - what I term as infrastructure resellers," he said.

"Its database contained both electrical contractors and traditional IT resellers.

"Westcon has traditional IT resellers on its books."

The lines between electrical contractors that install power cables for a building and IT resellers that install power protection products have blurred, said Spiteri.

"Anixter's resellers fitted in both categories," he said.

"There might be a minimal overlap, with some resellers picking and choosing which distie to buy from.

"It shouldn't create a pricing war, only more paths to market."

Spiteri said the addition of a second distie would increase the vendor's presence in A/NZ.

"The agreement was amicable with Westcon and would help both organisations to generate more business."

Anixter managing director, Wayne Bogart said it had built a strong business in the region.

It resellers had specialist skills in structured cabling for power and data, with a focus on communications, security and switching systems.

"It therefore makes sense that we partner with [one of] the leaders in these fields," he said.

Anixter told CRN it was unable to comment at the time of going to press.

Besides the two national distie, Emerson had niche distributors in each state, said Spiteri.