Fortinet distribution suffers more upheaval

UTM vendor comes under fire for failing to develop long-term channel relationships

Fortinet has been accused of operating an inconsistent distribution strategy after making another tweak to its UK line-up.
After reviewing business plans from incumbents Noxs and VCW and four other distributors, the
unified threat management (UTM) vendor has served a notice of termination to Noxs and has confirmed that it will appoint Juniper distributor Sphinx.
The move comes after Fortinet unveiled former Juniper honcho Paul Judd as its new UK and Ireland country manager.
Judd told CRN: “Noxs was bringing on more and more product lines and we were getting less and less mindshare. Sphinx is a very good fit with what we are trying to achieve.”
However, onlookers have been quick to point out that Noxs is not the first distributor to have been axed by Fortinet since it entered the UK market in 2002. Other casualties have included Ideal Hardware, Wick Hill, Norwood Adams, Unipalm and Westcon.
Dave Ellis, director of e-security at distributor Computerlinks (formerly Unipalm), said: “Building channels is all about long-term relationships, and you cannot achieve that with the amount of changes Fortinet has made in the UK.”
Manny Pinon, sales director at Fortinet Silver partner Ampito Group, said: “As an integrator, you do not want to be confronted with a new distributor every six months.
“If Fortinet wants to attract the larger integrators it must stick with one of the big guys and not keep chopping and changing.”
Judd stressed he will not be encouraging Sphinx to “cannibalise” its base of Juniper resellers.
However, he added: “Juniper is telling a unified threat management story, but in reality it is just selling firewalls. I am familiar with its base of partners and know what works for them and what does not.”
Fortinet parts with Westcon