Tag: Computerlinks

Resellers need wider mobility portfolios

Posted on May 8, 2013 by - News

DominicWordsworth_newResellers must begin to start building wider mobility portfolios and get cosy with disties in a bid to exploit the latest opportunities within the market, Computerlinks has said.

The company, which earlier this week announced an agreement in the UK and Germany with MobileIron, said the recent BYOD trend had been  good for starting conversations about mobility strategies organisations.

However, Dominic Wordsworth, product group manager at the company pointed out that the industry was now moving beyond just securing devices to considering how they can make staff not only mobile but also productive.

“MDM was the ‘knee jerk’ reaction by many to BYOD (both vendors and end-users) – securing the devise is an important start, but enabling and managing applications is the real challenge,” he told ChannelEye.

He pointed out that the companies with insight who initiated pilot mobility projects were now starting to move into company-wide rollouts.

“[This gives] the channel plenty of opportunities to get involved as businesses need to evaluate what applications are needed, who needs them and why. Vanity projects such as handing out iPads to executives are becoming more scarce, as organisations are becoming to demand real value from all of their devices,” he added.

Many channel partners are offering mobility products which allow IT departments to manage devices, however, Wordsworth claimed it was becoming clear that security was not the only factor at play here.

“To exploit the latest opportunities in the market, resellers should be building wider mobility portfolios around devices, applications and content. Focusing on one aspect of the mobility pitch won’t bring in those high-value contracts as organisations will generally be looking for the whole package rather than just a point solution.

“One way resellers can get ahead of the competition is by working with distributors that can offer extra services to help companies get mobile more easily, such as pre-sales support which can gives them access to current market expertise and knowledge,” he said.

Computerlinks claims that its new partnership with MobileIron will further continue to help resellers to drive their customers to deliver useful business applications to users over enhanced mobile networks to a secure endpoint, whatever the device.

It has also promised training for its channel partners around the new announcement, as well as helping them take advantage of its highly qualified pre and post sales consultants to support their own teams.

Computerlinks becomes B2B Kaspersky distie

Posted on February 15, 2013 by - News

kasperskylogoDistributor Computerlinks has won a contract to sell Kaspersky Lab’s portfolio with a view to drive growth in the B2B market.

Kaspersky hopes this strategy will boost the company’s routes to market as well s increasing its presence in the UK. Computerlinks will offer channel partners Kaspersky’s Endpoint Security for Business as a key asset in its security portfolio.

Endpoint Security for Business lets companies both control and protect on site devices as well as cutting resource demands on IT teams, bringing mobile device management, data protection, systems management, and endpoint under one management console.

Director for B2B sales and marketing at Kaspersky Lab, Matthew Robinson, said that Computerlinks’ experience in value-add will prove “invaluable” to customers and channel partners.

He added that Kaspersky’s new strategy, which focuses on a full value model running along with the existing volume business, will keep Kaspersky “at the forefront of the evolving channel landscape”.

Computerlinks’ director of core technologies, David Caughtry, said that the deal is part of Kaspersky’s “exciting stage of growth”.

Alvea offers SMBs, channel, managed network security

Posted on February 4, 2013 by - News, Opinions

gardnerIt “makes no sense” for the channel and small businesses to ignore the security market, Alvea has said, speaking with ChannelEye.

Recent research from channel analyst house Canalys suggests that the security industry is growing 10 percent year-on-year. According to Alvea, however, it can be tough for small businesses to stay on top of the ever changing security landscape, especially in a difficult economic climate.

The comments come as it launches its Managed Network Security service in the UK and Ireland.

Managed Network Security, which is the latest addition to the company’s services portfolio, is designed to help small and medium businesses (SMBs)  protect their networks from security threats and will be sold through the firm’s channel partners.

Neil Gardner (pictured), professional services development and operations manager at Alvea Services, pointed out that although it is urgent for SMBs and channel players to keep up with current threats, it can cost serious money and time.

Gardner told ChannelEye the company can help channel partners keep up with these threats thanks to its relationship with distributor Computerlinks. Although the Alvea brand is an independent service, it is supported by technical expertise and infrastructure from Computerlinks.

“Computerlinks has been in this industry for over 20 years and has an office built around a range of engineers and techies who keep up with the day-to-day threats in the security market,” Gardner said.

“Therefore what we offer our partners can be better than our competitors. Either a fully managed service contracted to us or a managed support package run by the partner.

“We want to give our partners an a la carte package, where they can also mix and match services. If we look at the competitor landscape we at best match prices with our rivals. However we offer a better service,” he said.

The new service includes both a firewall and a Virtual Private Network (VPN) delivered on a choice of hardware security appliances.

According to the company, the range of appliances available within the Managed Network Security service ensures that resellers can select the product that is best suited to their customer’s network requirements. They can also offer consultancy skills to customers to ensure the provision of the right level of protection and investment.

As businesses grow, resellers have the scope to add new service modules.

Alvea said this gives them the chance to remain in constant contact with customers, hold regular service reviews and foster a long-term relationships that may lead to additional sales opportunities.

Resellers can also offer the option of a managed security service to their customer bases without incurring the high costs of becoming a managed service provider themselves.