Photo shows Armando Pascual (right), Nortel’s Director for Distribution for Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand with Wendy O’Keefe, EVP for the Asia Pacific region for Westcon Group, during the announcement of the partnership.

In a move intended to improve its go-to-market strategy, Nortel has appointed Westcon as its regional distributor for its North ASEAN markets of Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Under the agreement, Westcon will offer Nortel’s complete enterprise portfolio and takeover responsibility for all the core channel functionswhich have traditionally been delivered by Nortel.

At a press briefing held recently in Makati, Armando Pascual, Nortel’s Director for Distribution for the three countries, said the agreement will essentially streamline the company’s operations and allow it to run its business better.

“Westcon will takeover the marketing and logistics functions while Nortel will continue to provide after-sales support, maintenance and certification programs,” Pascual explained.

The new strategy is expected to streamline Nortel’s operations and increase the company’s efficiency as well as reduce cost and boost its presence in the enterprise market. He stressed that the agreement has been in the pipeline even before the company filed for Chapter 11 early this year.

Westcon has been a global partner of Nortel for the past two decades. Wendy O’Keefe, recently appointed as the executive vice president for the Asia Pacific region for Westcon Group said their partnership with Nortel contributes about $300M to Westcon’s entire business globally.

“With this partnership we broaden an already successful long-term global partnership. We are Nortel’s largest distributor globally and enjoy a committed relationship with other regions that we wish to translate into these new markets,” O’Keefe said.

Westcon will work closely with Nortel and build on their existing relationships with channel partners. Currently, Nortel has 5 channel partners in the country.

Nortel provides next-generation communications and technology solutions to various industries. In the Philippines, the main markets for Nortel products and services are companies in the contact center, finance and healthcare industries.