Acal gets a European deal from Oxford - Brief Article

Electronics Times, Sept 18, 2000

Acal has secured a pan-European distribution deal with datacoms and connectivity IC specialist Oxford Semiconductor.

The agreement covers Acal's UK operation and its operations in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

It is another in a series of recent pan-European franchises that have been granted to small-to-medium sized distributors, after major broadliners have dominated the continent-wide sector.

Oxford's decision to seek a pan-European agreement was driven by rapid growth for both PCI-based and IDE-to-IEEE 1384 connectivity devices over the last 18 months.

James Foster, Oxford's marketing director, explained why his company had opted for a tier two distribution player.

"We needed to find a pan-European distributor to provide design-in support across Europe, but felt that we would not get the attention that our products deserve in the global, broadline distributors," he said.

"Acal's focus on niche suppliers together with their established and fast-growing European infrastructure provided a much better match for what we needed."

Acal took control of the former Sedgmoor distribution operations recently and now has 24 trading companies within the group, including 11 in continental Europe, 12 in the UK and one in the US.

Tony Laughton, its group MD director, said of the Oxford deal: "Connectivity solutions need strong design-in support and we have already identified numerous opportunities for Oxford's products throughout Europe."

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