Barracuda takes to distribution waters

Barracuda Networks has already signed two additional distributors following a deal with e92plus last month.

Last week the anti-spam vendor signed Risc Technology and Wick Hill to sell its Spam Firewall as part of its plan to rapidly expand its distribution tier.

The firm's appliance has no per-user licence fee but can be bought for a one-off cost with an optional maintenance contract.

"We are getting a lot of demand for this type of product in Europe. It is an appliance that bundles functionality and comes in at the right price for SME customers," said Kay Eggleston, UK managing director at Risc.

"The one-off charge is a good selling point and resellers will win the maintenance contracts because with anti-virus products there needs to be constant updates."

Eggleston added that three distributors in the UK is "more than enough" for the vendor.

Mukesh Gupta, managing director of e92plus, welcomed the news. "Barracuda needs to be quick into the anti-spam space," he said.

Paul Thackeray, managing director EMEA of Barracuda, agreed. "We want to get our name known as quickly as we can," he said. "There have been a number of products released, but we do not have per-user pricing, and customers know what they are getting."

Thackeray added that e92plus has got the firm off to "a flying start" in the UK.

Separately, delegates at the International Telecommunication Union spam conference last week called for standardised, tougher worldwide anti-spam legislation to stamp out junk email in the next two years.

Eggleston believes there will still be demand for anti-spam equipment when tougher legislation comes in. "Sending unsolicited email is illegal now, but this has made no difference," she said.

karl_flinders@vnu.co.uk