I.T. distributor sets up warehouse in Dorval

Multi-billion dollar I.T. distributor Westcon Group, which deals with well-known industry giants such as Cisco Systems, Avea, and Nortel Networks, held the official launch recently of its new warehouse in Dorval.

The company, which employs 1600 world-wide, conceded few jobs would be opened through this move, but said existing ones would be kept in the area, since warehouse operations used to be located in the neighbouring Montreal borough of Lachine. "I'm thinking there are 35 people at this location," estimated Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, Vice-President and General Manager at Westcon Group in Canada.

She said the company needed a larger location due to increased inventory after breaking some new deals with new customers like Cisco and Avea in Canada. The two industry giants were already working with Westcon in other parts of the world, but not here.

Westcon acts as a middle man of sorts between IT manufacturers such as the aforementioned companies, and customers of the latter. "(Westcon) will stock the equipment over here, and now (our customers) say 'oh I need a 150 telephones," explained Aveya employee Steven Fournier, who was also present at the launch event. The customer will then deal with Westcon, which will have already stocked that equipment from the manufacturer, explained Fournier.

One advantage Westcon boasted for its customers at the new location is a "virtual lab." A recent development in the I.T. field, a virtual lab is an equipment-stocked room in a warehouse where potential customers may test out new software remotely through an online connection, without any shipping or handling involved. "You get to try all the stuff without shipping anything," said Dan Hill, the lab's manager, during a tour of the warehouse. "Previously, we would pack (this equipment) up in a box, pick it up, (customers) would play with it and ship it back," Hill explained. "It would be out of my control," he said, adding the equipment could have been easily been bruised or beaten during shipping or handling.

Westcon did toy with the idea of sending its warehouse to Toronto, where its Canada-branch office is, said Operations VP Bernie Kelley, but ultimately decided Quebec was a better location. "Most of our business is located in East Canada," Kelley said, adding shipping costs to Quebec City, Toronto and Ottawa can all be done via ground-only shipping from Dorval, which cuts down on costs. "From Toronto we couldn't get ground pricing to Quebec City the next day," Kelley added.

Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau said the move is a benefit both for Westcon and the city. "For these guys it's great, more room for their inventory, and better service with their customers," Rouleau said. "For us we're happy, because of the jobs, and investment, and taxes. But we don't look for taxes," he added with a laugh.

According to Weston's 2008 annual report, the company generated $2.9 million US in profits last year.

Forty-five per cent of that came from the Americas, 46 per cent from Europe, and nine per cent from the Asia-Pacific region, according to the report.

And though one of its big customers, Nortel Networks, has declared bankruptcy, Smurthwaite-Murphy was not too concerned.

She said Aveya is slated to buy Nortel out, and the fact it already deals with Westcon puts its in a good position to keep doing business with Nortel's future incarnation.