News

Westcon Group Creates Latin American Operations, Consolidating Central American, Caribbean and South American Offices

Otávio Lazarini Barbosa Promoted to Senior Vice President, Latin America

June 15, 2010, Sao Paulo, Brazil--Westcon Group, Inc., the leading specialty distributor in networking, convergence, security and mobility, announces the creation of Westcon Group Latin America. The new organization, to be led by Westcon veteran Otávio Lazarini Barbosa, centralizes Westcon's Mexican, Central American, Caribbean and South American offices into a single organizational structure. Otavio Lazarini Barbosa, who has been promoted to senior vice president, Latin America, will report directly to President and CEO Dean Douglas and will be responsible for the company's entire Latin American operations.

Dean Douglas commented: “We are at a key inflection point in the industry. The creation of our Latin American operations allows us to focus better on each element of our business so that we can respond to changes in the marketplace more rapidly. Otávio has made extraordinary progress growing our business in Latin America--particularly in Brazil. Under his capable leadership, we continue to achieve profitable growth and have become one of the fastest growing technology companies in Brazil."

In his previous role as general manager of Westcon Group Brazil and Latin America, Otávio and his team were extremely successful in expanding Westcon Group market share within Brazil. In two recent market surveys published in leading Brazilian annuals - INFO 200 and Anuário Informática Hoje - Westcon was named the fastest growing technology company in the country. Additionally, over the past several years, Westcon Group Brazil received sales performance awards from top manufacturing partners including Cisco, Websense, and others.

Created in 1998, Westcon Brazil was the starting point for the company's expansion into Latin America, which soon led to the establishment of regional offices in Florida and a full subsidiary in Mexico two years ago.

“Latin America represents a tremendous opportunity Westcon Group," said Otávio . "Our Brazilian Comstor and Westcon organizations have the potential to grow exponentially in the next four years throughout the entire region. My team will be responsible for leveraging new and ongoing business opportunities for both our vendor and channel partners.”

Before joining Westcon, Otavio Lazarini Barbosa held technical, marketing and sales positions at Telsist, a distributor of networking products and solutions, which Westcon acquired in 1998. Barbosa has a degree in Computer Engineering from PUC-Rio, Brazil, and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Krannert Business School, Purdue University, USA.

About Westcon Group
Westcon Group, Inc. is the leading specialty distributor in networking, security, mobility and convergence for leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Avaya and Polycom. Through its Comstor, Westcon Convergence, and Westcon Security business practices, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers, systems integrators and service providers. Westcon Group has particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information, visit www.westcongroup.com.

Contact:
Jeffrey Touzeau
Hummingbird Media, Inc.
Tel:(914) 602-2913
jeff@hummingbirdmedia.com