Cloud Distribution to diversify vendor base

Meraki distributor hungry to sign more vendors after inking agreement with cloud-based security vendor iViZ

Cloud Distribution has unveiled iViZ Security as the first of several planned strategic vendor signings as it looks to grow beyond its roots as a Meraki ally.

The distributor recently took on a dedicated product manager to look after its franchise with wireless LAN specialist Meraki, which generates 80 per cent of its sales.

Co-founder Scott Dobson said the move would allow the firm to build strategic partnerships with new vendors, cloud-based application penetration testing specialist iViZ being the first.

Dobson added that iViZ would allow resellers to take on and beat the big penetration testing vendors – such as Qualys – on deals with large online and high street retailers.

IViZ manually reviews its reports to check for false positives and negatives before sending them on to partners and customers, he stressed.

"This leaves the partner and customer with less work to do when they come to fix the problems highlighted by the report. This is iViZ's USP," he said.

Dobson, who set up Cloud Distribution in 2009 after selling his previous distributor VComm, said he was keen to expand the distributor's vendor base further.

"Now I am out of my restrictive covenants for VComm I am very keen to get back into the voice over IP space, but with a cloud spin," Dobson said.

"We focus on network infrastructure solutions managed in the cloud."

Smaller vendor partners include WAN optimisation vendor Expand Networks, which recently fell out with its main VC backer. Cloud Distribution also has a referral relationship with infrastructure-as-a-service outfit OpSource.

According to Dobson, Cloud Distribution has about 100 active reseller partners, including 35 that work with the distributor for multiple brands. He listed Synetix, Varidion, Vodat and Softcat as being among his top partners.