Most vendors won't do it because they won't do enough volume for...

Most vendors won't do it because they won't do enough volume for it to be worthwhile. I work for a tech vendor and distributors take a lot of the hassle away from selling to partners. Cisco are a juggernaut and do enough volume for it to maybe be worthwhile selling direct to reseller... for the single biggest one. Other resellers will still have to go via distribution.

Plenty of vendors think about going direct until they realise what a pain in the ass it is to manage import, fx, and lines of credit with resellers.

For those wondering, the typical model will be

Vendor (Cisco in this case) sells to one or more distributors (Dicker Data) who manages import, exchange rate (though I believe Cisco have an AU price book) and manage credit with the hundreds of resellers, who then sell to resellers who sell to the end user.

Sounds complicated but trust me this model actually works. Very few vendors sell direct to end users outside North America, although they may sell direct to key large accounts.