Specialism: Networking, unified comms and security
Key vendors: Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, Check Point, Juniper Networks, Extreme Networks, Zscaler, F5 Networks, Nokia
UK gross sales: £540.9m (+18%)
UK headcount: 560
Going to market through its Comstor and Westcon brands, this distribution giant posted UK gross sales of £540.9m in its year to 29 February 2024, according to numbers it split out for us.
That represents an 18% annual hike on the number it gave us last year.
Part of South African IT group Datatec, the Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike ally saw global revenues power up 7.7% to $3.69bn in the same period.
Westcon-Comstor in January acquired London-based AWS advanced service partner and solution provider Rebura, in a move designed to bolster its channel services offering.
AWS Marketplace represents a push area for the distributor in 2025, its Global COO and CFO Callum McGregor told us (see below).
“We are cautiously optimistic as we head into calendar year 2025”
Quickfire Q&A with Callum McGregor, Global COO and CFO at Westcon-Comstor
What Westcon’s your sweet spot?
Using our data-driven approach to unlock new growth opportunities for vendors and partners operating in cybersecurity, networking and cloud across EMEA and APAC.
Which product, service or vendor has stood out for you in 2024?
It would have to be Intelligent Demand, our data-led sales and marketing programme that leverages data insights and market intelligence to accelerate partner growth. The programme generated $768m in additional revenue for partners in FY24 – up 70% on the previous year’s figure of $450m. During the year we completed 532 Intelligent Demand analyses for partners across 28 countries spanning EMEA and APAC.
If you could change one thing about your business at the stroke of a wand, what would it be?
I’d like to see us execute even better on the growth opportunities available to us. Despite our global H1 FY25 results showing an increase in profitability – EBITDA was up 16.5% year-on-year to $69.5m and gross profit climbed 6.1% to $216.1m – revenue growth has been subdued and I’d like to see more strength at the top line.
When will the UK distribution market return to growth?
This is difficult to predict of course, however we are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for the UK, and EMEA more broadly, as we head into calendar year 2025.
Name one area of your business where you are expecting to add staff in 2025
We are investing in new resource to support the growth of our AWS Marketplace programme. Launched earlier this year, the programme is designed to unlock new growth opportunities for partners by providing a streamlined and simplified route to transacting on AWS Marketplace, while enabling participating vendors to scale their cloud marketplace business.
The programme allows partners to purchase multiple vendors’ cybersecurity and networking software products from Westcon-Comstor via private AWS Marketplace listings and sell directly to end-users in a frictionless, end-to-end process entirely within AWS Marketplace. We are hiring a dedicated team of AWS Marketplace specialists across Europe and the Middle East, with a focus on technical enablement and partner education.
At its Channel Forums EMEA in October, Canalys characterised AWS Marketplace as one of the world’s largest distributors, owing to its growing third-party software business. On balance, do you agree?
The rise of hyperscaler marketplaces, led by AWS Marketplace, has been one of the defining technology trends of recent years and is certainly becoming one of the largest intermediaries, reshaping end-user buying patterns. The significance for the channel is also underlined by Canalys who are projecting that more than 50% of hyperscaler marketplace sales will come via channel partners by 2027.
At Westcon-Comstor we are clear that the rise of AWS Marketplace represents an opportunity for us and the channel more broadly, hence our agreement with AWS earlier this year and the launch of our innovative, multi-vendor AWS Marketplace programme (see above). In building a bridge that allows our partners to serve their customers directly in AWS Marketplace, we continue to drive their success by enabling them to sell where their customers want to buy.
If you could undertake a secret, two-week apprenticeship at another distributor to see how they roll, which would you choose?
Pax8 is a company with an interesting model and positioning. Like Westcon-Comstor they are redefining the role of distribution for the cloud marketplace era.
See who made the wider Oxygen 50 Must-Know IT Distributors 2024 here.
