Infinigate sets sights on UK growth

Security distributor Infinigate has set its sights on expanding its revenues in the UK, with the business keen to dedicate more investment into the territory.

The channel player has been open about working towards a €1.5bn revenue target by 2024, up from the current €1bn, and needs to increase the business it does in the UK to support that ambition.

Last quarter, Julien Antoine, a seasoned executive of the security and distribution business, joined the company as chief business development officer after a spell at Exclusive Networks. His brief included helping to drive Infinigate’s cloud and subscription business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and support a growth strategy based on organic growth and acquisitions. 

Antoine said the UK was not yet one of the firm’s top markets, “but that means it is super high in my priority list”.

He added: “We are going to turn [that the UK is high on] our priority list and we are going to dedicate resources investment and time from the management and from the board to make the changes over there.”

Antoine said the plans were in place and were agreed on, and the task now was to turn words into action and show resellers in the UK that there was an alternative with Infinigate.

“We already have a very clear roadmap in terms of what we want to achieve,” he said. “Now we start to be in execution mode already. So, 2022 is when you will see the first things happening.”

Antoine said the cyber security market was growing strongly and Infinigate was optimistic that there would be rewards for those in the UK channel that signed up to work with it.

“The market is growing by 10% on average, but you’ve got big differences with vendors growing by 30% and also growing by a couple of percent,” he said, adding that the market was changing and the channel was looking at supplier options. “We are really on the edge of significant change in the industry, because the market has been driven by selling hardware appliances for years and now everybody is moving into subscription.”

The distribution market is crowded, but Antoine said there is still room for Infinigate to beef up its presence here and make a difference.

“We do see consolidation more or less every week, but because of the pace of innovation, we do see twice as many startups created every week,” he said. “So, the market is consolidating, but you also still see the long tail of fragmentation because you’ve got new innovations coming around every day. If you look at distribution, many companies have been doing a lot of acquisitions, but what’s happening is you still got some good opportunities on the market.”

Antoine added that the market was still evolving, security threats wre emerging and the subscription model was becoming more widespread, and there were still opportunities for resellers to make different choices about their partnerships.