A year is a long time in the comms distribution channel. But while much remains the same, there are also significant changes in relationships and strategies that are having a major impact on the landscape.

This time a year ago the channel was still reeling from Mitel's decision to drop distribution in favour of direct reseller relationships. ‘How could they do that?', everybody asked, and distributors in particular wondered if it signified a much chillier blast to come. In fact, Mitel's strategic about-turn has so far proved to be a one-off. And for this vendor at least, it seems to be working well. Reports from the reseller community suggest general satisfaction.

Alastair Mills, Chief Executive at Mitel champion SpiriTel, is not alone when he says, "We've been very happy with what they've done. We work with Mitel closely on the hosted side of our business where it is a leader, and we're content with the strategy. Mitel is always clear about which direct customers it has and we get strong support from the vendor in our customer relationships."

At the SMB end of the market Mitel has also been busy, leveraging the benefits of its 2007 acquisition of Inter-Tel to seize the initiative in the sub-50 extension market and give resellers the chance to drive IP down into the lower reaches of the small business community.

"Players who might be feeling squeezed out are hitting back"

With Alcatel-Lucent also setting its sights clearly on the SMB sector, these are interesting times for vendor watchers as they wait to see how the premiership players - Cisco, Avaya and Nortel - shape up to the economies of scale and comprehensive packages on offer from their division one rivals.

But there are few crumbs of comfort in this for distributors, increasingly subject to vendors' shifts in strategy and changes wrought by merger and acquisition. MTV Telecom, with the weight of its new US owner ScanSource now behind it, clearly has something to shout about at the moment, however. And not surprisingly, its UK management team has been quick to emphasise the distributor's commitment to resellers at a time when elsewhere, some rivals are feeling the pitch.

"ScanSource doesn't sell against its resellers, and given what's happening elsewhere in the UK distribution market it's good to know that we've been acquired by a company that absolutely shares the same philosophy as us," Managing Director Natalie Foers told Comms Dealer.

Rocom, too, has benefited from the acquisition season, albeit second-hand. Having bought Ericsson's Enterprise Communication Business, Aastra has appointed Rocom as Master Distributor for the Ericsson Enterprise line, elbowing Nimans out of the way. Rocom was already flying high after becoming Avaya's first new UK distributor for four years, taking on the vendor's SMB product line in April.

Inevitably, in a distribution market which seems to be heading ever closer to being dominated by a small handful of giants, players who might be forgiven for feeling squeezed out are hitting back in ways that have triggered much eyebrow raising across the industry. Nimans' decision to launch an end customer e-warehouse, revealed in last month's issue of Comms Dealer, has caused consternation among resellers who not surprisingly feel compromised at finding themselves competing for business with their own supplier.

This may turn out to be one of the most significant developments in a year that was already looking fascinating from the channel's perspective. The dynamics of the landscape are being shaped by much more than just an awkward economic climate, and with distribution always under pressure, it won't be surprising if this skirmish turns into a more substantial war.