Accellion flexes its muscles in UK
Managed file transfer vendor to switch to channel model after racking up 200 UK enterprise references
Paul Steiner: We have met all the criteria to expand aggressively and rapidly
Managed file transfer (MFT) vendor Accellion is gearing up for a channel push after claiming it has reached a critical mass of UK enterprise customers.
The US-based vendor currently carries out 80 per cent of its UK business direct,
but wants to turn that figure on its head by recruiting a channel of specialist security resellers.
Paul Steiner, managing director of Accellion EMEA, said the firm had a list of 200 enterprise references to take to UK resellers, including big names in the government, legal, pharmaceutical and media sectors.
“We now have the critical mass, reputation and references and we know and understand the UK market,” he said. “We have met all the criteria to expand aggressively and rapidly.”
Steiner claimed MFT was one of the fastest growing IT markets as large enterprises clamour for a secure way of sending large files.
He also claimed rivals such as Tumbleweed, Ipswitch, GlobalSCAPE and Biscom lack Accellion’s laser focus on MFT, as their heritage is in adjacent markets such as collaboration, FTP and fax servers. Most of Accellion’s installations are now on VMware or in the cloud. “We are exclusively designed for file transfer from the get-go,” he said.
Accellion already has ad hoc ties with a handful of VARs, including Square Group and Handd Business Solutions, but Steiner is keen to establish more formal partnerships.
“We need people who are strong with data loss prevention because we can play a strategic role in DLP implementations,” he said.
Ian Davin, marketing director at Handd Business Solutions, agreed that MFT is a red-hot market following last month’s introduction of fines of up to £500,000 for firms who suffer data breaches.
“Customers like Accellion’s technology, but it needs to formalise its channel strategy. Provided they can do that there is a good opportunity for it,” he added.