NEC PHILIPS AND DOLMEN JOIN FORCES IN BELGIAN MARKET
Dolmen acquires sales and service organisation and signs up as major channel partner
Hilversum, The Netherlands – October 3, 2007 – NEC Philips Unified Solutions and Dolmen Computer Applications & Associates, a leading provider of ICT solutions in Belgium and Luxembourg, today announced an agreement to boost their enterprise communications activities in the BeLux market. The agreement involves the acquisition of NEC Philips Unified Solutions’ direct sales and service activities in Belgium and Luxembourg by Dolmen, and a long-term distribution agreement for the supply of NEC Philips systems, applications and services to Dolmen. Financial details were not disclosed.
The agreement is part of NEC Philips’ overall strategy as outlined earlier this year (ref. the announcement of 19 June 2007 “NEC Philips Unified Solutions prepares for growth in EMEA communications market”), to on the one hand expand its EMEA channel partner network with strong local partners that can offer “solutions” to its customer base, and on the other hand create in certain countries stronger solutions organisations through organic growth or acquisitions.
On Monday October 1st NEC Philips announced hereto that it had acquired in the UK Telamon Systems Ltd, a provider of IT business solutions and services, to support its IT solutions oriented business approach. “In Belgium, the cooperation with Dolmen was too good to resist”, commented NEC Philips CEO Ad Ketelaars.
Customers will benefit from the services and solutions offered by the Dolmen Group, an organisation that combines expertise in voice, data and converged solutions, applications and services with extensive system integrator capabilities and expertise. With 7 offices of Dolmen spread over the Belgium and Luxembourg markets the number of service points for customers will also be significantly increased. NEC Philips gains a very strong distribution channel, and is confident it together with its present partners will further grow, now being perfectly tuned to play a dominant role in the BeLux market.
“The interest in and commitment to our portfolio of products and solutions from a leading solution provider such as Dolmen, is a clear recognition of our leadership in enterprise networking solutions for the converged world”, adds Ketelaars.
“We will continue to develop and deliver new systems and applications to keep fully conform to market developments and customers requirements, in support of further growth of our business in this region. To that intent we will integrate our existing channel support activities in Belgium and Luxembourg into a Benelux channel team”, he concludes.
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About NEC Philips Unified Solutions
NEC Philips Unified Solutions is a leading provider of comprehensive communications solutions to organisations of all types and sizes. NEC Philips offers advanced IP-based solutions that unify products, applications and services, enabling organisations to communicate and collaborate more effectively, efficiently and reliably. The company is a joint venture of NEC Corporation and Royal Philips Electronics and draws on more than 50 years experience in providing communication systems and services to a diverse and global base of customers. NEC Philips Unified Solutions is headquartered in Hilversum, the Netherlands, and serves its customers through a global network of sales organisations and business partners. For more information www.nec-philips.com.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately 4,825 billion yen (approx. $41.2 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2006. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com.
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a global leader in healthcare, lifestyle and technology, delivering products, services and solutions through the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 125,800 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 27 billion in 2006, the company is a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring systems, energy efficient lighting solutions, personal care and home appliances, as well as consumer electronics. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.
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For more information, please contact:
| Robert van Amerongen NEC Philips Unified Solutions Tel: +31 35 689 1521 Email: robert.van.amerongen@nec-philips.com |
Forward-looking statements
This release may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of NEC and Philips and certain plans and objectives of both companies with respect to these items. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.