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Aastra and Redington Value sign Distributionship Agreement for Middle East and North Africa

Dubai April 11, 2011 - Aastra , a leader in Enterprise Communication technology and Redington Value, the value added distribution division of Redington Gulf - one of the leading IT distributors and supply chain solutions providers in Middle East and Africa, today announced that they have signed a partnership agreement for the distribution of Aastra SIP and IP terminals and small IP-PBXs in the Middle East and North Africa.

Aastra Technologies Ltd, the number 3 vendor in enterprise communications in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)[1], is a multinational company headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, and listed on the Toronto stock exchange (TSX:AAH). Aastra acquired several European businesses in the enterprise communication space including Ericsson's Enterprise division.

Aastra Business would be managed by the Value Division of Redington Gulf (Redington Value). Redington Value helps its partners in the channel deliver the most optimal IT solution to their customers in Middle East and Africa. These solutions span across technology domains such as Networking, Voice, Servers, Storage, Software, Security and Infrastructure. Over 14 vendor relationships in various parts of Middle East and Africa ensure that all the requirements of the channel are met under one-roof. This is supported by in-house pre-sales expertise to support partners, regular sales/technical training and programs to benefit partners do more business.

Commenting on the agreement, Dr. Roger Hage - Vice President Marketing & Business Development, Aastra MENA said: " Aastra is continuing in its regional channel expansion strategy in the Middle East and North Africa, and is happy to partner with Redington Gulf in order to reach a wider range of value-added resellers and systems integrators in the region. Our vast portfolio of SIP phones are certified to interwork with enterprise grade call manager platforms like Aastra 's MX-ONE™, BusinessPhone™ and MDevolution™ as well as with Open Standards based solutions like Asterisk®, and carrier grade IP Centrex platforms such as BroadWorks® from BroadSoft Inc. and Mmtel (IMS) from Ericsson. We are also one of the few vendors offering high quality stand-alone Desktop IP phones, which are certified and optimized for Microsoft's latest Unified Communication solution Lync™ Server 2010."

Roger adds: "The selection process has taken several months and we have carefully weighed crucial criteria like geographical reach, logistical capabilities including in-country stocking and channel satisfaction, and came to the conclusion that Redington Gulf is the perfect regional partner for our key markets in the GCC, the Levant and Egypt."

Commenting on the association, Mr. Ramkumar Balakrishnan, Vice President, Redington Gulf , Value Division, said:

"We strive to offer our channel partners complimentary solutions so as to enable them to meet their customers need most efficiently. Aastra 's portfolio will complement some of our existing offerings especially HP Networking-with whom Aastra has a tight alliance called the Open Network Ecosystem (ONE). We are confident that with our VAR network across Middle East and Africa more customers across the region would have better access to Enterprise Communication solutions and help us meet our partners needs better. "

Redington Gulf will be selling the following product range:

• Aastra 6730i and 6750i series SIP Phones (for Asterisk, IP Centrex and SIP compliant call managers)

• Aastra 6720ip series IP Phones optimized for Microsoft® Lync™

• AastraLink Pro 160™, an All-in-one Plug-n-play IP-PBX for up to 25 users

As part of the introduction of Aastra 's IP phones for Microsoft® Lync™, Redington Gulf and Aastra are launching a promotional offer for Microsoft's voice partners for use as demos and proof-of-concept, which will be available during the second quarter of 2011.

-Edns-

About Aastra Telecom Middle East
Aastra Telecom Middle East is the Middle East & North African business unit of Aastra Technologies Limited, (TSX:"AAH"), a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communication market. Headquartered in Concord, Ontario, Canada, Aastra develops and delivers innovative communications products and applications for businesses. Aastra 's operations are truly global with more than 50 million installed lines around the world and a direct and indirect presence in more than 100 countries. Aastra is entirely dedicated to enterprise communications and offers one of the most complete portfolios of unified communications solutions individually tailored to satisfy its customers' requirements. These range from feature-rich call managers for small and medium businesses and highly scalable ones for large enterprises, integrated mobility, and call centres solutions to a wide selection of terminals. With a strong focus on open standards, Aastra enables enterprises to communicate and collaborate more efficiently. For additional information on Aastra , visit our website at http://www.aastra-mena.com

About Redington Value
Redington Gulf 's value division was started in lieu of company's horizontal expansion with focus on networking products and solutions. The value business has grown within a short span of 4 years and now offers networking, software, security, infrastructure, server and storage products and solutions. The Value Division is associated with some of the leading global brands including Avaya, Cisco, Checkpoint, HP Networking, HP Servers, HP Software, HP Storage, Juniper, Molex, Nortel, RedHat, SonicWall and Trend Micro.

For Further Information, please contact:
Hani Iskandarani
Pr Leaders Public Relations
M (UAE): +971 55 220 8337
M (KW): +965 9 788 6020

[1] Source: Canalys, unified communications call control managers line shipments, CY 2010

© Press Release 2011