BT has folded two data networking resellers, bought last year, into one company.

The new company, called BT iNet, merges BT's TNS and Skynet dealerships, and does all the usual stuff that you would expect - installation, IP telephony, wireless networking, managed services and security services.

Few companies these days like acquiring product resellers - or even so called VARs (value-added resellers), which flog services on the back of product sales. BT is a rare exception. In the early 90s it was the UK's biggest single buyer of computer hardware. But then it decided to ditch intermediaries - suppliers included Zenith Data Systems and Computacenter - and become a reseller itself.

Through acquisition it has become an active channel player in Ireland, on both sides of the border. In 2004, it bought Belfast dealer BIC Systems for £17m. Last year, it bought Dublin-based Cara, The RoI's biggest computer reseller, for an undisclosed sum.

And in April it got into phone and internet-selling with the acquisition of Bolton-based Dabs.com for an estimated £30m. ®

Related stories

• Dabs.com courier goes titsup (28 August 2008)
• BT reseller biz goes gangbusters in Q1. But... (31 July 2008)
• Computacenter keeps BT contract (28 March 2007)
• BT buys Counterpane to bolster security services (25 October 2006)
• BT buys Fiat's Polish telco biz (31 July 2006)
• BT's new wave buoys up profits (27 July 2006)
• BT buys Dabs.com (28 April 2006)
• BT Ireland confirms Cara buyout (3 November 2005)
• BT buys Cisco reseller (4 May 2005)
• BT completes B.I.C. Systems Group buy-out (25 October 2004)
• BT buys Belfast computer dealer for £17m (16 September 2004)