Tumbleweed rolls out latest channel scheme

Craig Whitney: We want to establish Tumbleweed firmly in the channel psyche.

Email security vendor Tumbleweed has unleashed an aggressive channel push across Europe.

The firm has unveiled a channel Alliance Programme and already has a number of channel firms in its sights, according to Craig Whitney, managing director for EMEA at Tumbleweed.

'We want to transform the firm from a traditionally direct sales organisation to one that can play in other markets to appeal to a different audience,' he said. 'We want to establish Tumbleweed firmly in the channel psyche where we have not played very strongly in the past.'

According to Whitney, the vendor has already engaged in discussions with key targets and is looking to bring about 30 partners on board across Europe by the end of the year. Partners will not be tiered. 'We want to invest heavily in our partnersí success,' he said.

Tumbleweed has also severed ties with its UK distributor Access.

'We think there is a place for distribution within our product range, but probably more in email security appliances,' Whitney said.

He added that the firm had already seen success in verticals such as finance and military, but it is keen to gain market share in areas such as Payment Card Industry compliance and the legal sector.

Bob Tarzey, service director at analyst Quocirca, said: 'Tumbleweed is best known for messaging security, but the market is already commoditised and most firms have partnerships in place already. The ideal situation for Tumbleweed would be an acquisition because it is going to find it hard to just keep pushing email security.'