Vendor lineage
Afina - the distributor Westcon bought to reach Latin America
Spanish security and data centre distributor, founded 1990, acquired by Westcon Group in 2012.
Afina was founded in 1990, headquartered in Madrid and Miami, and distributed security and data centre technology across Latin America, the Caribbean, Iberia, France and Morocco. It was family-owned, led by Pedro Galatas, and Westcon Group acquired it in July 2012.
The number that explains the transaction is in the Spanish trade coverage rather than the press release: in 2011, for the first time, Afina billed more in Latin America than in Europe - fifty-two per cent against forty-eight. A Spanish company had become a Latin American one by revenue, and that is precisely what a North American distributor with no regional presence needed to buy.
The two headquarters tell the same story. Madrid for Iberia and Morocco, Miami for the Americas - the same choice the Adistec entry on this timeline records, for the same reasons: dollars, United States purchasing terms, and reach into a dozen jurisdictions from one place.
Its channel services included training, which is the part of distribution that never appears in a product datasheet and decides whether a technology is usable in a country. A vendor portfolio is worth nothing without partners certified to install it, and somebody has to run those classes.
- PR Newswire, 2 July 2012 - Westcon Group announces the acquisition of Grupo Afina through the acquisition of GLS Software and its subsidiaries; founded 1990 and headquartered in Madrid and Miami, Afina traded across Latin America, the Caribbean, Iberia, France and Morocco, focused on security and data centre distribution, with a vendor portfolio including VMware, Citrix, Riverbed and Symantec and specialised services for its channel including after-sales support, value-added services and training; Westcon CEO Dean Douglas cites analyst estimates of more than US$310 billion of Latin American IT spending in 2012, led by Brazil and Mexico
- Channel Partner, July 2012 - the Spanish wholesaler was owned by the family of its chief executive Pedro Galatas, and in 2011 for the first time billed more in Latin America than in Europe, 52% against 48%, driven by storage, virtualisation and data centre lines; Westcon already operated in Spain through Comstor