Security world showing plenty of channel interest

Anyone walking around the aisles at Olympia the other week at InfoSec would have been struck by the number of vendors showing off their wares and just how many want to work with the channel. The indirect approach is vital for those that are keen to get a greater presence in the UK market. Here is a selection of some of those keen to strike up partner relationships.

US back-up and storage vendor Code 42 is seeking new partners to build out its channel in the UK and Ireland. The move follows the launch of a new product, Forensic File Search, which aims to reduce the amount of time it takes to investigate, respond to, and recover from data security incidents. Ewan Ross, Head of UK and Ireland Marketing said the bulk of its sales already go through the channel but it wants to increase its partner roster as it seeks to increase its market presence.

Barracuda Networks has simplified its channel partner support as it looks to grow channel opportunities in the UK, France and Germany alongside other European countries. The company has expanded its PhishLine product to the mid-sized market. PhishLine combats phishing attacks with simulation and training. It has also launched a cloud-based firewall. Chris Ross, SVP, International said: “The channel plays an important role in the fight against cybercrime. There are massive opportunities for resellers with Phishline and at a wider level we have the highest volume of hardware sales in the cyber security industry.”

US headquartered eSentire is planning to grow its UK channel sales from an existing 30 to 40 per cent to 100 per cent. The company provides managed detection and response services for Secure Operations Centres. Sean Blenkhorn, VP, sales engineering and advisory services said: “We have invested heavily in the UK and Ireland and we’re looking for good quality partners in the managed services space. Ultimately we are aiming for 100 per cent channel sales and we also plan to extend this across APAC. We are currently in the mid-market space but are also planning to move into the enterprise market.”

Cloud access security broker CensorNet is on the hunt for new partners to support business growth. The company turned its back on distributors several years ago and today is focused exclusively on resellers. Peter Heron, Channel Manager, CensorNet said: “We are growing our reseller business to support business expansion. We did use a couple of distributors several years ago but they were lazy. They were happy to take a commission but did nothing to help grow our business. As a result we’re now exclusively focused on managed service provider resellers.” CensorNet has a two tier channel model that includes annual/monthly billing, perpetual licensing and subscriptions.

US vendor D3 Security is expanding into the UK and EU in response to demand for its D3 SOAR Platform. The security orchestration, automation and response platform automates repetitive secure operations centre tasks and manages incident response across disparate security platforms and enterprise departments. It has a local service provider on board but is also seeking other partners. Its software is already used in the UK and EU by companies in the banking, finance, healthcare, high tech, insurance, manufacturing and services industries.  Steffanie Miller, Director of Sales, D3 Security said the company intends to focus on 100 per cent channel sales.

 There are major opportunities for managed security service providers and VARs in threat intelligence tools, said Domain Tool’s Bryan Munro-Smith, sales director, EMEA. “We’re actively looking to expand our channel with more MSSPs and VARs,” he said, adding: “We have the largest DNS catalogue available running into hundreds of petabytes. This enables us to offer unrivalled threat intelligence insight.”  Munro-Smith described the current levels of cybercrime as “horrendous” and said there are thousands of potential clients who sorely need threat intelligence services. “The police are hopelessly overwhelmed, they can’t cope. But we can identify and block cybercrime activity that piggybacks on well-known brand names and organisations,” he added.

Apricorn a US vendor of hardware only, software free, 265 bit encrypted storage accessories is seeking to drive sales in the UK and across EMEA. Mike McCandless, VP sales and marketing, Apricorn said the company is using Simms International for distribution but wants to drive further sales through the distributor in the wake of GDPR. “We’ve been in the UK three years and because of GDPR its time to grow and expand. Finance, healthcare, government and education are big markets for our products in the US and we aim to replicate this across EMEA.” Apricorn used to OEM its products in the UK with Lenovo as one of its clients.  It has now pulled the plug on this as it seeks to cement its own position.