AVG snaps up Level Platforms
Network management a natural next step for company and its partners, AVG claims
Security vendor AVG has leapt headfirst into the remote monitoring and management (RMM) space by acquiring LPI Level Platforms.
The move, for an undisclosed sum, is set to boost AVG's second-half subscription sales by about $5m (£3.2m) and will add 1,500 partners to its channel globally.
Talking to CRN, Mike Foreman, general manager for AVG SMB Group, said AVG had been running the rule over RMM targets since it jumped into the cloud space with the launch of its CloudCare administration platform last summer.
The two companies' portfolios will be integrated over the next 18 months, he indicated.
CloudCare already features anti-virus, content filtering and email security functionality, with online backup soon to be added.
"The next part of our road map was to get deeper into network management," he said. "Network and security management are converging so we went out and looked for the best product we could get."
Kaseya may be a bigger name in the RMM space – particularly in Europe where Level Platforms does not have feet on the street – but Foreman claimed that Level Platforms was a better fit.
"It came down to their focus," he said. "When we started out with CloudCare we had a strict focus to go for smaller businesses. Kaseya does not have that focus – it has a direct model selling to a broad reach of companies.
"These are both products that resellers in the services space need. He has a need for anti-virus, online backup, content filtering and anti-spam and a need for a platform to manage it. So we will bring them together – but we are not going to force any reseller to take our anti-virus products. You do not need to worry if you are a reseller using Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro or any other security products that work with Level Platforms."
Level Platforms chief executive Peter Sandiford said the acquisition would allow his firm to expand its European footprint.
"We have long wanted to be active in Europe," he said. "We have the leading technology in North America. We have a partner base in Europe but it is all in-bound and we will leverage AVG to leverage its channel."