News Release

Westcon Group Signs Distribution Agreement with Cisco

Westcon Group to Offer Cisco's Advanced Technology Solutions in Combination with its Award-Winning Programs and Over Two Decades of Experience in Canada
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Jan 29, 2008

TARRYTOWN, NY, January 29, 2008 - Westcon Group, Inc., the leading specialty distributor in networking, convergence, security and mobility, announced that it is extending its highly successful distribution agreement with Cisco® into the Canadian reseller market. Westcon Group's expanded relationship with Cisco is designed to increase the success of its reseller partners delivering innovative unified communications and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solutions, primarily in the SMB and mid-market.

This announcement extends the existing distribution agreement between Westcon Group and Cisco, which serves channel partners in Europe, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Westcon Group, which has over two decades of experience distributing IT and telecom solutions in Canada, will also provide its Canadian customers with access to its internationally award-winning Cisco-oriented programs. Westcon Group will initially launch OneVoice, and OneDefense, to be followed by OneWave and OneNetwork at a later stage. These multi-national solutions programs provide the selling tools, product information and market analysis resellers need to succeed in advanced technologies such as convergence, security, mobility and network infrastructure.

"As small and medium sized businesses in nearly every vertical market continue to embrace IP telephony, the opportunities to provide them with unified communication platforms expands dramatically," commented Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, VP Westcon Canada/SMB North America. "Through our agreement with Cisco, we can provide Canadian resellers with world-class solutions like the Cisco Smart Business Communications System, as well as programs like OneVoice and OneWave-which help bring context to the reseller value proposition."

"The SMB market is Cisco's fastest growing customer segment globally and represents a tremendous market opportunity for Canadian channel partners," said Rick Graham, area vice president, distribution and channel operations, Cisco Canada. "The Westcon Group's experience in advanced technologies and extensive knowledge of the Canadian market made them a natural fit for Cisco. We look forward to working with Westcon Group to help Canadian channel partners profitably grow their businesses."

"We are very pleased to see Westcon Group adding Cisco to its linecard in Canada," commented Dave Sherry, president of Ontario-based Unity Telecom Corp. "We have worked with Westcon for several years and our success is attributable in part to to Westcon's unwavering commitment to help us become more profitable through new technologies. We appreciate their ability to provide a single source for all our advanced technology solutions."

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