Dolph Westerbos - CEO, Westcon Group
Westcon Group, which goes to market under the Westcon and Comstor brands, is celebrating 30 years of providing service and support for its partners in the channel.
Focused on technology practices in security, unified communications and networking, as well as capabilities in cloud and data centre, the company has grown from a small startup to a distribution giant with over 1,000 employees.
“Over the last three decades, we’ve evolved from a startup company helping enable PC networking in and around New York City to a global powerhouse of value-added technology distribution and services,” says Dolph Westerbos, CEO, Westcon Group.
“Westcon and Comstor have created billions in new commerce - which has grown our customers’ and vendors’ businesses and improved the lives of millions of people helped by our technology solutions.
“It is with tremendous pride that we celebrate this milestone in the history of our company.”
In 1985, three visionary men - Tom Dolan, Phil Raffiani and Roman Michalowski - set about to build a new company, operating from a two-car garage, 20 miles north of New York City.
Westcon became one of the first companies to sign a distribution agreement with a technology manufacturer, and became one of a number of small, early distributors that changed the way technology products were sold.
In essence, the "channel” was born.
By 1997, the company was generating close to $US200 million in revenues from distributing and supporting networking products before the company made the decision to extend its networking leadership around the globe.
Comstor joined the family in 1999, which brought a deep relationship with Cisco and together, the companies became Westcon Group.
From its start in a garage 30 years ago, Westerbos says Westcon Group has grown into a $US4.85 billion global company with a “mission to innovate, transform and lead” in the technology channel.
From its early networking roots, the distributor has broadened its offerings to sell and become experts in its vendors' software and services.
“We’ve added specialisations in collaboration, data centre, and security, and offers robust pre-sales consulting, implementation, technical support and education,” Westerbos adds.
“In addition, Westcon Group is building a channel solution for the cloud that delivers both physical products and digital services in a hybrid solution.”
Going forward, Westerbos says the company continues to develop solutions that “satisfy the changing needs” of the market, deploying tools in everything from e-commerce and CRM, to partner integration and global logistics.
