Westcon Group North America Creates Convergence and Security Practices Aimed at Maximizing Reseller Opportunity; Specialized Teams at Westcon Highlights Company's Depth of Expertise with an Emphasis on Holistic Technology Solutions.

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- Westcon Group North America, Inc. (WGNA) announced that it has created distinct convergence and security practices within its Westcon division. The announcement follows the company's successful acquisition of the distribution business of Ronco Communications and Electronics, Inc. and the current and ongoing rollout of its technology-specific marketing programs: ConvergencePoint and SecurityPoint within Westcon, and companion programs OneVoice and OneDefense at Comstor.

Westcon Group has held lasting distribution relationships with the most competitive convergence and security solutions available in the world including Cisco, Check Point, Avaya, RSA Security, Nortel, ISS and many others. The convergence practice is being led by Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, vice president sales, WGNA and the security practice by Laurie Usewicz, vice president of security sales, WGNA.

"As the security and convergence markets continue to be a key revenue source for our customers, we have developed very powerful, customer facing programs like ConvergencePoint and SecurityPoint," commented Laurie Usewicz. "Internally, we have developed highly focused teams that can shape a convergence or security solution to meet a specific business requirement in any vertical market. Our product managers and sales personnel are able to swiftly calibrate the latest manufacturer offerings into targeted solutions."

"With the alignment of our convergence practice in North America, one of the immediate changes our customers will notice is in an increased breadth of knowledge resources in our pre-sales support and customer service teams," said Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, vice president, convergence sales, WGNA. "We want to help our resellers with every convergence opportunity, providing both the knowledge basis and access to required solutions."

Lisa Gosselin, director, Americas channel sales, RSA Security, Inc., added: "The security market has developed in such a way that no single vendor can possibly accommodate every networking security need. Westcon Group realized this many years ago and in response built its Layered Security Solution framework. Now, with its powerful marketing programs and targeted security practice, Westcon is helping its customers overcome the next generation of challenges in security."

Michael Volk, president and CEO of True North Solutions, a Herndon-VA based reseller, added: "We are a traditional security reseller; through Westcon's SecurityPoint program, we can respond more nimbly to changing business and market requirements. Westcon keeps all the knowledge, tools and products we need close at hand, so we can move in on an opportunity when it counts."

About Westcon Group

Westcon Group, Inc. is a multi-national specialty distributor of networking, security and communications equipment for leading technology vendors, including Cisco Systems, Inc., Nortel Networks Corporation and Avaya, Inc. Through its Voda One, Westcon and Comstor divisions, 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.