Actualités

Arrow acquires Altimate
2012-04-19
American giant distributor Arrow Electronics has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of VAD Altimate, a subsidiary of Irish group DCC, for €41m in cash and €7.1m related to "deferred acquisition considerations" of Altimate that Arrow will take on. Specialized in storage and security, Altimate operates in eight countries including Belgium, France (its country of origin), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. It has a network of approximately 2,500 value-added resellers and system integrators. This acquisition will allow Arrow's VAD division Arrow ECS to globally strengthen its positions in all these countries (despite some local overlaps in terms of vendors), providing the acquisition is closed (in the next 90 days) and cleared by regulatory approval.

Altimate optimizes its customer service and launches its reseller portal MyAltimate
2011-11-16
In order to optimize the quality of its customer service, storage and security VAD Altimate has centralized all the orders of its resellers to a single access mail address, orderscustomerservice@altimate-group.com, and launched its web portal MyAltimate. Initially launched in Belgium, France and Luxembourg, MyAltimate will be extended to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom early 2012, and later in Portugal and Spain. Through MyAltimate, Altimate's resellers will be able to :

• track the processing of their orders by Altimate,
• be informed by mail of any change in the status of their orders
• visualize and edit copies of their invoices

Both these new tools are part of the new commercial strategy of the Altimate, which started in 2010 by its new name, then the implementation of a unified ERP and then the launch of a unified website for the whole group. All the new services can be used by any reseller who order more often than every 45 days. New functionalities will be added in 2012, which will allow resellers to have an access to targeted marketing and sales informations.

Altimate hires from Barracuda
2011-05-09
Storage and security VAD Altimate has hired Troy Theobald as its EMEA security business development director. Troy was previously working for Barracuda Networks as Northern Europe and Middle East sales director. For Altimate, he will develop the strategy and portfolio of security vendors, in partnership with local country managers. Troy will be based in the United Kingdom but will work directly with Altimate offices in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Altimate confirmed by Oracle
2010-10-01
One could have thought that Oracle had chosen only American distributors in Europe, following the full review of its distribution network after Sun acquisition. One major European distributor has been kept by the American vendor, for both its software and hardware solutions : Altimate. Even better, previously working with Oracle in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Portugal, Altimate has also been granted Oracle distribution rights in Spain, thanks to its good results and relations ships with the vendor. Altimate still does not work with Oracle in the Netherlands (because of too small a local structure) and the United Kingdom, where it just entered after the recent acquisition of Codework.

A new name and more focus on security for Distrilogie
2010-05-07
In order to strengthen on European level, French storage VAD Distrilogie, which is a subsidiary of Irish group DCC, has decided to change its name to Altimate. “More modern, this new name is better suited for foreign countries and carries strong values for the company”, explains Patrice Arzillier, President of the company. This new name is already used by another IT company in France, but not in the other countries : “hopefully, it was not registered, which we did. Also, we plan to work in good intelligence with this company, which is not a direct competitor”, says Arzillier.

On a practical point of view, the company simply changes its name in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain. In the Netherlands, SNE becomes Altimate NV, as Distrilogie had little activity in this country. In both Portugal and Spain, Mambo Technology, which moved last summer in Distrilogie premises, becomes, on its side, the security division of Altimate. Patrice Arzillier plans to leverage on this new identity to better push its security business : “security currently accounts for more than 10% of our European activity. We are stronger than other so-called security VAD, but it is seldom known. With this dedicated identity, we will push this security business in all the countries we are present, now and in the future, and become one of the main security VAD in Europe”, he plans.

This new name also brings – inevitably – a new website. Altimate has organized a random drawing on visitors, who may win an iPad. Emailings are also plans, to announce the new name. The company has also reorganized and unified its ERP on a European level, which is to be deployed in all countries before this summer : “this will help us save in productivity and efficiency, all the more as we plan to enter new markets in the coming months and years”, underscores Patrice Arzillier. Between organic growth and acquisitions, Altimate plans to reach a turnover of €500m in 2013. Main growth engines are, as explained earlier, security (which should then account to 30% of the distributor’s business) and entering new countries, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom being namely mentioned by Patrice Arzillier.