According to the agreement, ASBIS has been granted a license to supply Microsoft® software, including operating systems, Office 2007 and Server software, to Kazakhstan’s system builders. This Agreement complements the existing relationship between Microsoft and ASBIS which already covers Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania and Slovakia.
The distribution agreements for Romania and Slovakia enable ASBIS to supply Microsoft products to all countries of the European Union. The previous OEM Distributor agreement with Microsoft was signed by ASBIS Belarus in December 2007.
Commenting on the agreement, Tahir Takabayev, ASBIS’ general manager for Kazakhstan, stated: “We are extremely pleased with our new status as a Microsoft OEM distribution partner. We are positive that this agreement will bring increased benefits to our customers. It means that when our customers purchase Microsoft software, they can be comfortable that they will receive a legally distributed product and top level technical support. On top of that, they can save their time by buying all necessary computer components in one place”.
The distribution cooperation between Microsoft and ASBIS, which began 10 years ago, has seen a dynamic growth over the past few years. In 2006, the business increased by 260% year-on-year, whilst during 2007 it almost tripled which was caused to a large extent by the explosive growth of demand for legal software in Russia.