WatchGuard adds Panda range to MSP cloud platform

WatchGuard has bolstered the services its managed service partners can provide after integrating the technology it gained by purchasing Panda Security last year.

The cyber security player has now integrated the WatchGuard Endpoint Security product range – previously known as Panda Adaptive Defense 360, Adaptive Defense, Endpoint Protection Plus and Endpoint Protection – into WatchGuard Cloud.

Bringing the products onto the cloud platform should make life easier for partners that want to streamline their operations and increase the ease of deployment to customers.

“WatchGuard’s driving mission is to create the security platform of MSPs’ dreams and, less than a year after acquiring Panda Security, we’ve taken another significant step forward,” said Andrew Young, senior vice-president of product management at WatchGuard.

“MSPs need a platform that offers greater coordination across critical security services. We are delivering next-generation antivirus, AI-enabled endpoint detection and response, network security and authentication services as a unified security platform that enables MSPs to provide complete protection for customers today, and we are making it simpler and more streamlined than ever to manage.”

The vendor shared a response to the developments from Stuart Hall, director at Kuiper Technology, who welcomed the move and the increased options it would give partners. “Now we can manage all our security offerings from the network to the endpoint within one unified platform, and simplify everything from initial deployment and set-up to licence management, renewals and reporting,” he said.

WatchGuard has been developing its cloud platform to arm partners with more flexibility, with subscription-building options there, as well as centralising its portfolio to make it more accessible for its channel.

The Panda acquisition was struck last March and ever since it closed the deal, WatchGuard has been keen to arm its channel with the fruits of the acquisition, launching an early-access programme for its resellers to get their hands on Panda products to start to understand how the endpoint detection and response tools work, within three months of the tie-up.

The surge in remote working and the acceptance by many employers that a degree of that will be permanent, has led to more focus on endpoint protection.

Recent research from HP Wolf’s Security blurred lines & blindspots report found that global endpoints experienced 1.5 attacks per minute in 2020, and 91% of ITDMs spent more time on endpoint security than they did two years ago.

“The future of work will be more distributed than ever before, with a growing number of people working from multiple locations outside the office,” said Joanna Burkey, CISO at HP, last month. “This will unlock exciting new opportunities for greater mobility, but it also creates new vulnerabilities.”