Crane sees Samsung as having a far better voice and data integration proposition for the channel which suits their ambition of becoming the UK's number one supplier of IP converged products.
Speaking to Comms Business Magazine, David George, Chairman at Crane confirmed the Samsung deal and commented,
"This new strategic partnership agreement presents huge opportunities for Crane and enhances our corporate objective of being a prominent player in every market. Samsung's industry leading products will give Crane additional strengths in data integration, Convergence, Mobility and Services and this enables us to offer our resellers future proof solutions and a long term future in IPT, ahead of the competition."
For many years Samsung had shied away from distribution but last year made their first move to two tier sales by appointing Rocom. The agreement seemed to be cemented in stone when Rocom moved several of their key staff in to
spare space at Samsung's Manchester offices but last week Rocom Managing Director told us that some details of their distribution deal were still not concluded.
"There have been many changes of personnel at Samsung in recent times and we have been unable to clarify with them which resellers they would like us to sell into. We expect to have this issue resolved shortly."
Crane will be delighted at the deal which sees a resurgent Samsung product range gaining increased credibility from new models, features and applications.
One insider at Crane told us that he thought LG-Nortel were 'likely to become an end point only product company in the longer term, eschewing systems development in order to focus on what he termed their 'core competencies.'