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Empresas y finanzas

Datatec and Subsidiary Westcon AME Forms Dedicated Middle East Business Unit for Cisco Product Distribution


    Datatec, the international Information & Communications Technology
    group, and its Westcon AME subsidiary have signed a strategic
    agreement with Cisco(R), the worldwide leader in networking for the
    Internet, which will lead to the establishment of a dedicated
    operation in Dubai UAE, focussed on the sales and marketing of Cisco
    products in the Gulf region.

    To be known as Comstor Middle East, the new company will support
    the reseller channel in the region by providing products; selling
    tools; technical, integration and financial services; market and
    technology expertise and an environment to enable them to more
    efficiently and profitably sell solutions to their end customer.
    Former Tech Data Managing Director of the UK and Middle East, Steve
    Lockie, has been appointed as head of Datatec Group's Westcon Middle
    East operations with effect from April 2007.

    The sales, marketing and logistics activities of Comstor Middle
    East will be supported through Westcon Group European Operations Ltd.,
    leveraging the sister company's existing position within the Cisco
    marketplace. Also, Comstor Middle East will be offering Westcon
    Group's OneDefense and OneVoice programs, which form the delivery and
    targeting mechanism to enable Comstor customers to compete most
    effectively in their advanced technology markets of choice.

    Willem de Haan, Chief Business Development Officer for Westcon and
    Comstor European Operations says: "The emerging markets experience of
    our parent company Datatec, combined with our expanding European
    operations, will be instrumental in accommodating Cisco's fast growing
    drive in this burgeoning region. Based on a long business relationship
    with Cisco, we believe that building and enabling unique and effective
    routes to high growth advanced technology markets is key to ensuring
    fundamental growth for customers."

    Datatec Group CEO, Jens Montanana comments: "This is the first of
    many planned steps towards achieving our objective of increasing our
    exposure to emerging markets by working closely with key vendors.
    Steve Lockie's considerable experience in IT distribution will enable
    us to identify and capture new opportunities in this fast growing
    region--we are glad to have him on board."

    "We congratulate Comstor on its appointment as a Cisco distributor
    for the Gulf region," said Adrian Taylor, Regional Channel Manager in
    Cisco Gulf, Comstor's continuous efforts to develop new resellers and
    build solutions around advanced technologies will be imperative to the
    continuing success of one of Cisco's fastest growing regions in the
    world."

    Note to Editors

    Datatec is an international Information & Communications
    Technology (ICT) group focused on the supply of advanced ICT and the
    delivery of professional services into the higher growth segments of
    the global market. The Group's main lines of business comprise the
    global distribution of advanced networking and communications
    convergence products (Westcon), IT infrastructure solutions and
    network integration (Logicalis) and strategic telecommunications
    consulting (Analysys Mason). Datatec is registered in South Africa and
    its shares are listed in Johannesburg and London. The Group has 2,500
    employees around the world.

    In the six months to 31 August, the Group reported an increase in
    revenue of 16% to $1.67 billion (2005: $1.44 billion), EBITDA
    increased by 32% to $52.0 million (2005: $39.5 million), operating
    profit increased by 44% to $43.3 million (2005: $30.1 million), and
    headline earnings per share grew to 15.65 cents (2005: 12.02 cents).

    Westcon Group, Inc. is a multi-national specialty distributor of
    networking, security and communications equipment for leading
    technology vendors, including Cisco Systems, Inc., Nortel Networks
    Corporation and Avaya, Inc. Through its Westcon, Comstor and Voda One
    divisions, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers,
    systems integrators and service providers worldwide. Westcon Group has
    particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video
    applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol,
    or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote
    access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks,
    videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information,
    visit www.westcongroup.com.