TP-Link's new partnership with D&H in Canada paves the way to a broader channel, will provide greater coverage for new 802.11AC wireless products.
Mark Macaulay, senior director of sales for TP-Link Canada
Networking vendor TP-Link has expanded its presence at distribution, inking a deal with D&H Canada to help extend its channel coverage.
Since the beginning of the year, TP-Link has been focusing on building its channel in Canada, and adding D&H to its list of distributors, which also includes Ingram Micro, Synnex, and ASI, is the next step in that strategy, said Mark Macaulay, senior director of sales for TP-Link Canada. The deal is an extension of a longstanding distribution pact between the two south of the border. Macaulay said it makes sense as TP-Link and D&H share several key focus markets.
“D&H gives us a broader network of partners. They’re highly focused in on the SMB space, and they’re high-touch with those partners,” Macaulay said of the company’s new distribution partner. “They’ve got a great reputation [in the SMB space] and a strong background of supporting partners in that space.”
While Macaulay said the company’s largest partners in Canada are growing their business with the vendor in the double digits, TP-Link is also focused on reaching a broader number of channel partners in a growing number of areas. D&H gives them reach in several key areas – SOHO, SMB, and e-tail, all of which are growing opportunities for the networking vendor.
“We know that the SMB portion is really a sweet spot for us and for them,” Macaulay said. “They train their sales people well to attack that marketplace and expand it, and they have unique value in the e-tail space as well. They’ll bring us some great incremental opportunities.”
Macaulay said the deal came together very quickly, not surprising given that the two share not only key markets in Canada, but a history of working together in the U.S. market.
The announcement comes as TP-Link is launching its new members of its Archer line of 802.11AC WiFi devices. While focused on the digital home and SOHO markets, Macaulay said the access points are finding their way into larger small businesses.
“We find that our SOHO products at the higher end are running small businesses all over the country and all around the world,” he said. “A lot of these customers are looking for high performance and great value, and it fits into that scenario quite nicely.”
Macaulay said the company’s partners are bringing the Archer AC WiFi devices into “more specific project applications in various verticals” with very customized deployments, further expanding the reach for the networking gear.
Michael Schwab, co-president of D&H
The transition towards wireless AC is a key market opportunity on the minds of executives at D&H as well. In an interview at the distributor’s recent Toronto-area technology show, D&H co-president Michael Schwab told ChannelBuzz.ca is a “very exciting” technology for the distributor and its partners alike.
“It’s been out there a while in terms of routers, but a lot of the devices don’t have the AC chipset today. But it’s starting to show up,” Schwab said. “It’s the next reason to upgrade your technology. AC gets rid of the buffering, the dropping of frames. It becomes the real solution to the problem that exists both in the home and in businesses with content delivery.”
The 802.11AC wireless standard is now included in the latest generation of smartphones and tablet devices, including major devices from both Apple and the variety of vendors producing phones and tablets on the Android platform.
