The distributor currently works with about 15 Huawei channel partners in New Zealand and the goal is to increase that number to 20 to 25 partners. "We don't want more than that. We want to keep the value for the channel," says the GM. "We want to focus on partners who do good volumes and enjoy it, partners that make Huawei part of their core business."

Simms will rebrand as Expressonline during the first half of this year, following the company's acquisition by the trading division of Express Data Holdings last year. Nankivell says the name change is on track to happen in the coming months, with some changes to be made in terms of logistics and internal IT systems. "No changes to customers, it'll be transparent, business as usual," he says.