Given the pedigree behind the launch of Pragma Distribution speedy success was on the cards, but the fast pace of expansion and the early impact made by its founders shines as an even brighter beacon to Pragma’s achievements.
It took just a matter of weeks for David George, Tim Brooks and Will Morey to establish Pragma as a real contender in the UK comms distribution sector and also become a staunch alliance partner with the rebranded Ericsson-LG. Early last month Pragma received its first stock order from Korea and within hours of unloading the stock was being booked out to resellers. According to Will Morey, Marketing Director, the likelihood of boxes gathering dust on shelves is nil. He said: “Our mission is to communicate the strength and breadth of the entire Ericsson-LG Enterprise Solutions portfolio and the benefits they can offer to resellers.”
The Korean vendor offers a range of pure and hybrid IP-PBX platforms with its product brand iPECS, together with a suite of UC and mobility applications. An end to end voice and data solution and network management capability makes it easy to install and support these products, says Pragma. David George, Chairman and Co-founder, commented: “This partnership is based on a mutual understanding of how to achieve success. We are impressed by Ericsson-LG’s technology as well as the product roadmap and investments being made in applications and cloud services.”
Ericsson-LG’s Enterprise solutions hold the number one position in many major markets including Australia, South Africa and South Korea. “We believe that with our latest UC technology together with Pragma’s channel support and knowledge we can expand our market share in the UK,” said Ahed Alkhatib, Head of Enterprise Solutions, International Sales Division, Ericsson-LG. “We will actively invest in the success of Pragma and Ericsson-LG.”
Launched as a joint venture between Ericsson and LG Electronics two years ago LG-Ericsson now operates under the corporate name Ericsson-LG. According to the company its rebrand, which coincided with the launch of Pragma, will help to strengthen Pragma’s go-to-market messages by leveraging a more uniformed corporate look and feel that will appeal to all audience groups. JR Lee, President of Enterprise Solutions, Ericsson-LG, added: “There is no fundamental change to the existing business scope or portfolio, and there is no change for customer sales and support. As always, we will provide full support for our customers and partners.”
Ericsson-LG will maintain the existing business portfolio and move towards a solutions and services focused approach. Morey added: “Ericsson-LG’s joint brand strength, heritage and technical capability is critical to our mutual success. Pragma believes in the need to build strong relationships with resellers who wish to partner with globally successful technology innovators.”
According to Tim Brooks, Pragma’s Managing Director, the distributor can bring a fresh voice and approach to the distribution channel. “We know that there will be huge opportunities for resellers,” he said. “Pragma looks forward to showing resellers how they can reduce costs while offering products that are both feature and margin rich. These advantages are combined with a roadmap that helps to increase application sales, cloud opportunities and services.”
George is best known for launching Crane Telecom in the early nineties. The company became a significant force in channel distribution having partnered with vendors such as LG, Avaya and Mitel. Westcon Group acquired Crane for an undisclosed sum in 2007 and George then became executive chairman at reseller Redwood and he was instrumental in its sale to Timico. Looking ahead, George commented: “I believe the reseller will continue to be the route to the end user customer. I have been watching the market consolidate and the competition disappearing and with it a great deal of the value that resellers need. I could see the market conditions were right for the launch of a new value added distributor.”
