Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Sam Routledge
CTO, Softcat
Tip: VMware
Having dominated the server virtualisation market for over a decade, VMware has not rested on its laurels, leaping into the networking space in 2013 with NSX before making its debut in the cybersecurity market last summer with the launch of AppDefense.
The Dell-owned vendor's metamorphosis has not escaped the attention of Sam Routledge, CTO of Softcat, which first forged a partnership with VMware 12 years ago.
"I'm mega impressed with the way they've evolved," Routledge (pictured) said.
"Their positioning as a security platform company is interesting and with the bluster around security that's a really good thing. They've got NSX as a network layer that will help with security at a much more granular level. That's something we advocate: moving away from simply a perimeter-based security model to embedding security within your network.
"The other thing is AppDefense, which whitelists services running in virtual machines and will then take actions defined by you if it spots anything running that shouldn't be. I think that positioning in the current market is spot on."
VMware's détente with AWS (in 2013 former president Carl Eschenbach urged its partners to help it see off the public cloud threat posed by "someone who sells books") is another plus point, Routledge said.
"Fast-forward five years and they are in partnership. From a customer and hybrid cloud reality standpoint, that's really interesting," he said. "The [VMware-AWS] partnership won't hit the UK until later this year, but it's made them really relevant."
Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Mitchell Feldman
Chief digital officer, RedPixie
Tips: Citrix, Barracuda Networks, HPE
RedPixie may be a Microsoft Azure specialist, but its chief digital officer Mitchell Feldman is betting on one of Microsoft's staunch allies, Citrix, to enjoy a renaissance in 2018.
Although questions over Citrix ownership remain, the desktop virtualisation specialist's share price is currently at an all-time high and it is now pursuing a cloud-first strategy that mirrors RedPixie's own, Feldman (pictured) said.
"I went to the Citrix Summit in Anaheim [last month] and to me it seemed like a mini Microsoft Inspire or WPC," he said. "All the rhetoric I received is that they are incredibly focused on pivoting their business to be cloud-first. It sounds like they are almost going on the same journey as Microsoft, and going to that annuity-based model as opposed to licensing. They are rewarding more favourably towards cloud deals.
"I think Citrix lost their way a bit. They've definitely got their mojo back and I think they are going to accelerate next year and beyond."
A union with Microsoft will come sooner rather than later, however, Feldman predicted.
"[Microsoft VP] Brad Anderson was at the Citrix Summit and they were singing from the same hymn sheet and playing nicely," he said. "Some of their tools integrate seamlessly with each other. Microsoft have never really owned the virtualisation space from a desktop perspective so my gut feel is it's going to happen, whether that's now or in a couple of years."
Feldman also picked out Barracuda Networks and HPE as vendors poised to fly this year.
"I can see HPE turning it around and becoming a cloud-first company with services and product built for a cloud world," he said.
"People are questioning where they stand, but they've bought SimpliVity and recently bought an AWS shop called CTP - I think they are going to pivot a lot more quickly than anyone thought."
Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Paul Barlow
Managing director, Servium
Tips: Dell EMC, HP Inc
While it's fair to say that Dell's record-breaking takeover of EMC hasn't gone completely to plan, Servium managing director Paul Barlow is betting on Dell EMC to enjoy a strong year in the channel after completing most of the heavy lifting around the integration.
"I think this year will be key for Dell EMC," Barlow (pictured) said.
"Last year they did the merger, and this year they are set up to deliver, and I think they have a very strong portfolio. There are challenges when any companies merge, but a lot of the hard work has been done, so we see them as a major player."
Having failed to achieve the cost savings and performance anticipated through its $67bn marriage with EMC, Dell is considering a reverse merger into VMware or even an IPO.
But Barlow said these financial machinations don't worry him as a partner.
"Dell EMC is a massively well-respected brand and they are of such a large scale that they are going to be around in some form or another," he said. "Nine out of 10 mergers and acquisitions don't go according to plan in terms of getting the returns and economies of scale as quickly as everyone expects. But it's my understanding that a lot of the [integration work] has now been done."
Barlow picked out HP Inc as a second tip, arguing that the PC giant had become more agile since its separation from HPE.
"HPE are still finding their feet a little but I think we'll see HP Inc become more and more aggressive, and I think we'll see innovation out of them," he said.
Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Helen Hall
Executive chairman, AVR International & Custodian 360
Tip: SentinelOne
SentinelOne launched UK and European operations back in 2016, but 2018 will be the year the next-generation end-point security vendor kicks on, according to Helen Hall, executive chairman of security reseller AVR.
AVR launched a new division last January that offers SentinelOne as a managed service, under the Custodian 360 banner.
But Hall (pictured) said the vendor had until recently struggled to build the right team to match the hype around its technology.
"Gareth Green came on board [as EMEA and Asia-Pac VP of sales] last year and has handpicked the best of the best in the industry. The team they had before wasn't doing the right job, which is why I think 2018 will be their year," she said. "We've also been in close conversation with managed service providers in the US that focus purely on SentinelOne, and they've told us they had a tremendous 2017. And we all know that what hits the States one year comes to the UK the next."
The rise of next-generation end-point solutions has been tough politically for AVR, which has traditionally been a top-tier partner of the likes of McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro.
"Every client is considering why their anti-virus isn't fit for the common everyday threat," she said.
"When we analysed the next generation of AV solutions, we looked at Crowdstrike, Cylance and SentinelOne, as it's not our method to sell or promote just one vendor in a space. But technically SentinelOne could do things that none of the others could do, and for the first time we decided to go with just one vendor."
Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Martin Hess
Chairman, OCSL
Tips: Cisco, Microsoft Azure, Pure Storage
OCSL is traditionally an HPE house, but its chairman Martin Hess said the firm is getting "closer and closer" to Cisco as it pushes deeper into software and annuity revenue streams under new(ish) CEO Chuck Robbins.
Although Cisco remains heavily dependent on routing and switching revenue streams, Hess praised the giant for making "smart" acquisitions that have made it a more relevant player outside its network manager stronghold.
"AppDynamics is the biggest play for them because it takes them into that DevOps world," Hess (pictured) said. "It's going to be quite a challenge for their salesforce to get to grips with the sort of people who will buy AppDynamics, but it does put them into quite a pivotal position in terms of running an account. And it takes them into the AI space and makes them a much more business-relevant player than where routers and switches have ended up."
Pure Storage will "continue to do well", while OCSL is also "betting a lot of its future" on Microsoft Azure, Hess added.
"I don't know who's going to come out on top between AWS and Microsoft," he said. "It doesn't matter to us. They have different starting places. If you're in the app dev community, AWS is a logical go-to partner, whereas if you come from the enterprise applications and Office space, which is where we and most of our customers come from, then Microsoft is the go-to partner. We are certainly getting an awful lot of our new logos and leads from Azure."
Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Andy Barrow
CTO, ANS
Tips: Alert Logic, AWS, Microsoft Azure
Competing with the likes of Rapid7, Cardiff-based Alert Logic specialises in security-as-a-service and is poised for a stellar 2018, according to ANS CTO Andy Barrow.
ANS is picky about which vendors it carries, typically curtailing its portfolio at around 10 brands, but Barrow (pictured) pinpointed Alert Logic as a relatively new addition he is backing to the hilt.
"Effectively it's a SOC [security operations centre] in a box," he said. "You are effectively buying into - on a monthly fee - about 40 cybersecurity PhDs who are permanently watching your network, servers and systems, and it's a full defence and response service."
Alert Logic's strength lies in its ability to solve the current riddle end users face around the cybersecurity skills shortage, according to Barrow.
"It's very difficult to find cybersecurity expertise for enterprise money that can deal with modern cyber warfare," he explained. "If you look at the attacks we had last year - WannaCry, for example - it's not simple stuff any more and you need to build a team of the world's best.
"There are quite a few vendors in this space doing similar things but because Alert Logic are UK based, when it comes to security and sovereignty all your data is kept in the UK. Some of the others are based in Israel, or the Nordics, and it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge when talking to CISOs, but Alert Logic have one hell of a facility in Cardiff."
Barrow also backed public cloud goliaths AWS and Microsoft Azure to enjoy a prosperous 2018.
"Who will win the war? They will both win. They've both got demographics they deal with," he said.
"I see the race as being four - you are probably talking AWS, Azure, Google and Alibaba. There are vendors that will trail after that and you'll probably see them go into more niche markets where they are maybe providing higher-touch service management, or maybe doing one thing really well. There are lots of services we probably haven't even thought of."
Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Kevin Timms
CEO, EACS
Tip: Nutanix
Nutanix has experienced ups and downs since its IPO in September 2016, but its shares have been on the rise in recent months as fears that the hyperconverged infrastructure player was losing share to bigger rivals subsided. Its revenues flew up 46 per cent year on year to $276m in the first quarter of its fiscal 2018.
It also added 760 new customers during the quarter, an achievement that chimes with the experiences of EACS CEO Kevin Timms (pictured), who picked out Nutanix as the vendor most likely to enjoy a bumper 2018.
EACS' Nutanix business is already worth £1m annually despite the partnership being less than a year old, Timms said.
"We looked at Nutanix as a means of improving the performance and capability of our hardware stack as we were going into on-prem solutions," he explained.
"We were getting quite a few orders to architect, and we found the performance of hyperconverged technology was significantly greater than standard technology stacks.
"Nutanix will be a really big player in the coming years. We've had a lot of marketing support from them, and they are talking at our Optimise event in March. They've been very good and positive in the channel for us and we've got a big installation - over £1m - going in at a company down in Kent."
Eight resellers name their vendors to watch in 2018
Which established manufacturers will kick on this year? We asked executives from VARs and MSPs including Softcat, OCSL and ANS for their tips
Chris McQuade and Scott Hawkey
Operations director and technical services manager, PCS Business Systems
Tips: Dropbox and Datto
Dropbox launched a bid to boost the amount of revenues generated by the channel from 10 per cent to over half of the total in 2016, and also appointed Ingram Micro as a distribution partner that year.
According to Chris McQuade, operations director at PCS Business Systems, 2018 will be the enterprise file sharing vendor's year.
McQuade (pictured), who moved PCS itself onto Dropbox six months ago, highlighted Dropbox's collaborative document editing product, Paper, and the recently launched Dropbox Showcase as among the jewels in its crown.
"The product is very reasonably priced once you understand it and what it can do," he said.
"They understand their product and the market forces, and have some really good support and help around GDPR. Unlike some of the big boys like Lenovo or HP, we don't get any rebates and they don't do incentives and spif days - but you don't miss that."
Datto may be in the throes of merging with another vendor heavyweight in the form of Autotask, but the backup specialist is PCS' second nomination.
PCS technical services manager Scott Hawkey praised Datto for bringing cloud-based backup within reach of SMEs and for tracking the ransomware crisis.
"There's a lot of people in the market doing that product, but it's massively expensive for SMEs," Hawkey (pictured) said. "Datto came along with an appliance you can put on site that will take a full image copy of your server, or servers, every 60 minutes - down to five minutes if required - while scanning it for ransomware. It will then replicate that to the Datto cloud, so in the event your server dies onsite, you can fire it up on the appliance, and if the whole building burns down you can fire it up in the Datto cloud."
Although Datto has been in the UK for several years, the arrival of GDPR in May will make 2018 a pivotal year for the vendor, Hawkey said.