Growth the priority for Marshal8e6

Newly merged security vendors Marshal and 8e6 claim their contrasting strengths mean they can focus on expansion not cost-cutting

Newly merged security vendors Marshal and 8e6 have insisted cost-cutting is not on the agenda as they break into their $10m (£6.8m) private equity warchest.

Channel onlookers will remember the hefty job losses inflicted on UK web security vendor SurfControl after its acquisition by US rival Websense last year (channelweb, 4 October, 2007).

A year later and another transatlantic marriage has taken place, with UK-based Marshal and US-based 8e6 aiming to create a leader in the secure web gateway space.

But Nick Hawkins, vice president of sales EMEA at Marshal8e6 - which has combined annual billings of $50m - said cost cutting does not figure in the vendor’s post-merger plans.

“With most mergers the first thing they talk about is cost savings. I can categorically state this was not done for cost synergies,” he said.

“8e6 did not employ anyone in the UK and Marshal has always had a challenge around branding and scale in the US.”

Hawkins claimed there is also perfect fit around products, with Marshal coming from the email and web content security side and 8e6 adding clout around web filtering.

The merger has been backed by $10m in private equity lolly from Updata Partners and Hawkins stressed the cash would be used to fund the enlarged company’s growth.

“This is like a warchest to take on additional products and grow our marketshare. We are seeing certain companies leaving certain markets and closing offices but this is not the case for us,” he explained.