Is Dimension Data eyeing the Canadian market?

According to a reliable source, global solution provider Dimension Data may be setting up shop in Canada next year.

Currently, it has written up a business plan for entry into the Canadian market, and that’s it. The company has also hired a consulting firm to work on its business plan to see if it needs some tweaking.

Meanwhile, another source told me Dimension Data’s Canadian plans have been put in a holding pattern. Whether they come here or not will still be anyone’s guess, but the company has its eyes on this market.

Founded only 23 years ago in of all places South Africa, Dimension Data operates in more than 30 countries. It has close to 9,000 employees and generate about $2 billion in revenue.

The company has expertise in many areas such as networking, security, storage, consulting, and integration and managed services. It also boasts several Fortune 500 clients. Dimension Data has also won a boatload of awards for excellence and innovation from many vendor partners.

Dimension Data sort of reminds me of when CDW came to town. CDW, which just acquired Berbee International, was rumoured for many years to be making its way north. It had many a reseller shaking in their proverbial boots. But while CDW Canada has enjoyed tremendous success in its two-plus years in Canada, it han’t really put too many solution providers out of business either.

You can make an argument CDW Canada squeezed NexInnovations close to insolvency, but that’s not really true. NexInnovations’ problems are more internal than anything else. Hubert Kelly, the CEO of NexInnovations, did blame part of the problem on market pressures caused by the direct model, but in actuality the Mississauga, Ont.-based solution provider changed to a value model too late to stop the slide.

When NexInnovations gets out of court-supervised protection, I think it will be a better company for it.

Another source says that NexInnovations will be coming out of protection either this week or next. That is welcome news for one of the great solution providers this country has.

Just imagine what the market would potentially look like in 2007 if CDW Canada offered services through Berbee, plus Dimension Data and a new and improved NexInnovations were battling it out. Put SoftChoice, Compugen and a resurgent Compucom/CCSI Technology Solutions in the mix and the large corporate customers out there will have a smorgasbord to choose from.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Paolo Del Nibletto
Paolo Del Nibletto
Former editor of Computer Dealer News, covering Canada's IT channel community.

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