Azlan dropped in RSA distribution shake-up

RSA, the security division of EMC, has axed Azlan and signed Computerlinks following the completion of its first European distribution review.

In September, the security vendor told CRN it was undertaking its first formal distribution review in its 10-year history (CRN, 11 September).

Last week, RSA revealed its short-listed partners, with Bell Microproducts and Sphinx remaining on board in the UK, and the addition of Computerlinks. Data Solutions remains as RSA’s Irish distributor.

Richard Turner, vice-president of sales and operations at RSA, told CRN: “The review wasn’t about identifying the good and bad distributors. We’ve had a great relationship with Azlan for the best part of 10 years, but we just felt that Bell, Computerlinks and Sphinx were better aligned with our vision going forward.”

Turner added that RSA will be doing this kind of review much more frequently in the future.

“Once in 10 years is not frequent enough if we’re going to create the right distribution eco-system,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to commit to it becoming an annual thing, but we’ll definitely do it more regularly.”

David Ellis, director of e-security at distributor Computerlinks, said: “We’ve been working with RSA in Europe for a number of years and are also a Network Intelligence distributor, which EMC acquired recently, so it made sense for us to become a UK distributor. Three distributors in the UK is a good number, so hopefully there won’t be too much overlap between us all.”

Andy Gass, new UK managing director of Computer 2000, parent company of Azlan, told CRN: “We didn’t want to lose RSA. It’s a blow, but we will redouble our efforts and focus on our other security vendors.”

RSA Security to review distribution partners