Under the agreement, Altech gets access to Panasonic’s portable projectors, plasma screens, IP camera and monitor products.
Steven Fraser, AV/IT products national sales manager at Panasonic, said he was working to build the company’s IT channel and “get some AV products down the IT channel”.
Altech didn’t have a projector product line before signing with Panasonic, he said.
The distributor had a previous account with the vendor which was “dormant” and hadn’t been used since 2002, Fraser said.
“They didn’t have any representation from the Panasonic side –- no-one was going out there and working with them.”
“I’m trying to work up some of the IT guys. Panasonic’s an AV company and haven’t valued IT distribution as much as they should,” he said.
Altech joins a long list of Panasonic distributors in Australia. The company also distributes through IT and AV wholesalers including Also Technology, Rexel, Multimedia Technology, J Mills, Tecksel, ABI, XIT Distribution and IT Wholesale.
Panasonic also has direct relationships with around 80 AV specialist dealers around the country.
Altech’s national sales manager Kevin Hartin said in a statement: “The addition of Panasonic enables us to offer advanced projector solutions for our corporate, small business and retail customers, particularly in conjunction with Maestro Media Centre systems.”