Ingram’s exclusive Kanex deal isn’t exclusive

On March 8th Ingram Micro sent out a release saying it had signed an exclusive distribution deal with Kanex, a manufacturer of Mac connectivity solutions.

Since the story was published we've had Renaissance come to us disputing the exclusivity part of Ingram Micro’s claim.

Naturally, we passed that on to Kelly Eyerman, Sr. Business Manager, Apple Division & Solutions Services, at Ingram Micro for clarification.

This is what we received: "If Renaissance has Kanex products, they are buying it from a third party. We have an exclusive direct relationship and distribution contract with Kanex for the New Zealand market.”

So we took that back to Renaissance’s Kanex Product Manager, who then got back to us with: "I have queried this with Kanex as I was concerned they have said nothing to me about being exclusive. I received the below from our Kanex account manager in the US:

‘The exclusivity is not something we agreed to.'

The Renaissance Product Manager added, "So to answer your question, I am not sure where Ingram has got this information from but they do not have Kanex as an exclusive brand.”

We’re currently awaiting a response from Ingram to that one.

As you’ll see in the comments of our original story, Simms International also distributes Kanex. This was announced in November 2010, see our story here.

We’ve dropped Simms a note for confirmation but the brand is still listed on its website.

Update: Simms International came back to us with: "Simms are an official distributor of Kanex equipment in New Zealand and we source products directly from Kanex. We have confirmed that the recent announcement from Ingram regarding an exclusive distribution deal in New Zealand was incorrect. Simms continues to supply Kanex products to Apple and other PC resellers."

Either way, consider Kanex’s profile slightly raised in New Zealand.