LAN to launch Cisco business unit

Distributor LAN Systems will next month launch a Comstor business unit -- a division dedicated only to Cisco and Cisco third-party products -- hot on the heels of its reappointment as one of two distributors for the networking vendor.

LAN is in the throes of recruiting an additional six staff to work inside the division, said Nick Verykios, managing director at LAN Systems. Around 40 or almost half of LAN Systems Australia's 90 staff will work directly on Cisco sales and support, he said.

Verykios said the move followed the worldwide Comstor division's model of focusing specifically on Cisco products and related services. Other product lines would come under the LAN Systems banner, he said. Comstor is a division of the Westcon Group, which acquired LAN in April 2000.

The division would include business development staff focusing on selling emerging technologies, as well as dedicated Cisco trainers and channel program managers. It would also include a recruitment division, whereby telemarketers would be recruiting new Cisco resellers, he said.

LAN Systems was earlier this month reappointed as a Cisco distributor alongside Express Data. Tech Pacific was cut from the networking company's distributor list.

LAN does around $70 million per annum, or half of its turnover, in Cisco product sales and is already recruiting new resellers that were previously buying from Tech Pacific, Verykios said.