German giant Bechtle will be opening a new centre in Dortmund in order to give its customers in the region more coverage.

The 1,000 square meter site means the systems integrator has 13 out of its total of over 50 system houses located in Germany's most industrially developed region, North Rhine Westphalia. Of the 60 staff to be located there, 30 will come from the Bechtle centre in Essen. Bechtle's representation in Essen will be taken by its long-established subsidiary ITZ Informationstechnologie GmbH.

While Bechtle already had presence in Dortmund and its surrounding areas, its Managing Director Frank Wrede believes the centre will allow a stronger connection with its customers. "In Dortmund we have restructured our basic set-up, so as to be able to handle even very large-scale roll-out projects more effectively in the future. We are also introducing a demo centre, where we will be able to show our customers the latest storage and virtualisation products live."

Wrede also admits that it will be able to extend its coverage, especially as there are around 265 high-tech companies and service providers in the Technology Park, with over 8,400 employees "Of course, we are hoping that in the future we will be able to attract one or two companies from the immediate vicinity to Bechtle", adds Wrede.

www.bechtle.com