F-Secure signs Actebis as second distributor

Richard Hales has extended the vendor's distribution portfolio and signed a deal with Actebis

In one of his first moves since his appointment as UK and Ireland country manager at F-Secure, Richard Hales has extended the vendor’s distribution portfolio and signed a deal with Actebis.

F-Secure was previously distributed solely by Computer 2000 (C2000), Hales’ former company.

Hales said the Atebis appointment is to support a move into the retail space and claimed that relations with C2000 are still going strong.

“The message from resellers has been ‘give us a choice’ and that is what this appointment is about,” Hales told CRN. “C2000 has been doing an excellent job, but that doesn’t mean we should not be looking at other options.”

He added that the vendor has no plans to appoint another distributor in the near future. “We need to have a business model that offers a return for our resellers, distributors and ourselves,” Hales said.

Guy Harvey, software division manager at Actebis, said the distributor had wanted to add security capabilities to its portfolio. “Previously resellers were having to go elsewhere as we didn’t have any security offerings. F-Secure fills the hole in our portfolio,” he said.

Darren Neath, general manager of software at C2000, said: “I don’t think it will effect our business. We have a long history with F-Secure and are used to selling security products.”

Hales, who started the job at the beginning of July, became the third UK country manager at the vendor in less than two years. Jason Holloway left last year (CRN, 26 April 2004) and was replaced by Matt Piercy, who in turn left after six months in the job.

Back in 2003, F-Secure switched to a single-tier strategy, canning Allasso and Unipalm as its distributors. But it executed a U-turn the following year and appointed C2000 as its sole distribution partner.