UK newcomer Rapid7 to do reseller legwork

Fast-growing penetration testing vendor says it will work with prospective partners to uncover opportunities

Penetration testing and vulnerability management vendor Rapid7 has promised to do all the legwork for prospective partners after touching down in EMEA.

The US-based firm, which competes with the likes of Qualys and Nessus, claims to be one of the world's fastest-growing security vendors, having enjoyed 10 consecutive quarters of growth.

Rapid7 launched a local office eight months ago and has already signed up several UK partners including Pentura, Calibre Secured Networks, Cy4or, Integralis and Okta8. It is also on the verge of signing a pan-European distributor.

Andy Richardson, EMEA sales director at Rapid7, said the vendor conducts all sales, evaluations and demos itself on behalf of the VAR.

"Because we know the technology best and understand the market very well, we integrate with the reseller as part of its sales team and work with them to uncover opportunities," he said.

Matt Barrett, senior consultant at Rapid7, said the vendor's Metasploit penetration testing and vulnerability management solution, NeXpose, are designed to complement each other.

"We can take the vulnerabilities you find in NeXpose and fire them straight into Metasploit," he said.

Steve Smith, managing director of Pentura, confirmed his company had just signed up as a full partner, having integrated Rapid7 into its penetration testing proposition for two years.

"Rapid7 gained a lot of credibility after acquiring Metasploit by leaving the technology alone and continuing the community aspect of the product," he said. "It is a very competent technology."

Smith described Rapid7's high-touch channel model as "having an American feel to it" but said he had no problem with it so long as Pentura had a say in the business plan.

Joss Ings-Chambers, director at Okta8, said: "The name Rapid7 might not be known by everyone but Metapsloit is extremely well known. I have found them to be far more open and helpful than many other vendors we have worked with."

Richardson said the recent spate of data breaches had thrust Rapid7's technology to the top of the CIO pecking order.

"The security budget covers anything from vulnerability management to IDS systems and firewalls but the first port of call is to take stock and understand what is happening on the network to get a benchmark of where you are," he said. "You do that through penetration testing and vulnerability management."