Westcon-Comstor’s Rob Purdy takes the reins of first-of-its-kind solutions centre

New Zealand CoE supporting partners in datacentre, cloud and multi-vendor markets

Evolving partner needs around datacentre, cloud and multi-vendor architectures has prompted Westcon-Comstor to create a New Zealand Centre of Excellence focusing on those growth areas.

The Centre of Excellence will be led by Rob Purdy, who has been promoted to partner sales and solutions director as part of his new role. The promotion expands Purdy’s remit, seeing him tasked with driving a solutions-focused approach aligning with partner needs and market trends.

“The Centre of Excellence gives Westcon-Comstor new capabilities including hands-on solution validation, multi-vendor testing, and an environment for advanced training and workshops all under one roof,” Purdy said, also noting the company had already been supporting partners in these areas.

“The Centre of Excellence allows us to offer something deeper and more integrated when it comes to supporting our partners,” he added.

For now, New Zealand remains the focus for Westcon-Comstor’s Centre of Excellence program, with the new Centre being viewed by the business as a pilot which will help it create additional, future Centres.

“Right now, this is our first Centre of Excellence,” Purdy said. “We don’t have equivalent centres in Australia or other markets; however, the New Zealand Centre will influence how we expand to other regions in the future.”

Purdy said the organisation plans to launch further Centres of Excellence within the company’s next financial year, which begins in March. The additional Centres will also be in New Zealand.

Westcon-Comstor plans a roadshow in early 2026 to showcase the Centre of Excellence’s capabilities to partners.

“We will also be launching documentation that will help our partners sell more complex solutions and help them accelerate time to revenue,” Purdy added.

“Additionally, we will be scheduling virtual sessions later in the year, and customer will be able to reach out to our team in New Zealand and interact on an as-needed basis.”