Cyberoam boss tells partners: As you were

But distributors worried that Sophos acquisition could jeopardise their partnership

Cyberoam's chief executive has written to partners assuring them it will be "business as usual" for them following the UTM vendor's acquisition by Sophos, although distributors remain in the dark as to their fate.

Following murmurs about a deal on Friday, British security vendor Sophos confirmed today that it has bought its India-based rival for an undisclosed sum as it strives to increase its foothold in a UTM market worth $2.7bn (£1.6bn) annually and growing at more than 20 per cent a year, according to IDC.

The acquisition will mean Sophos now has more than 2,200 employees, with 600 focused on network security, including 350 in engineering.

"The acquisition expands and accelerates our network security road map to grow our presence in UTM, advanced threat protection, wireless and next-generation firewall - some of the fastest-growing markets in all of IT," said Sophos chief executive Kris Hagerman.

Cyberoam chief executive Hemal Patel has immediately written to partners to assure them it will be "business as usual" for both them and their customers. All discounts, channel programmes and existing customer contracts will continue unchanged, he said, as well as Cyberoam's product road map and reseller contacts for support, marketing, pre-sales and account management.

Sophos operates a one-tier channel model in the UK and has a habit of quickly terminating distributors it picks up through acquisitions here, as it did with Astaro in 2011.

Simon Jackson, commercial director of VCW, one of three UK distributors for Cyberoam alongside e92plus and Siracom, said he remained in the dark over the fate of his relationship of the partnership.

"Ultimately, there's both a risk and an opportunity for us," he said. "The risk is that Sophos continues to be a non-channel [ie, one-tier] organisation and we lose the partnership. We hope that's not the case, as we have put a significant amount of time and effort into bringing this product up. However, if they think we're doing a good job, they may give us access to other products in their range."

Mukesh Gupta, managing director of e92plus, said: "Sophos' strategy is one-tier, so unless it is looking to change that, this is not great from our point of view."

David Thompson, managing director of Siracom, said he understood there would be no changes and that it was business as usual.

Where Astaro gave Sophos clout in the western European UTM market, Cyberoam bolsters its presence in India, Africa and the Middle East.

Jackson said the vendor had also gained traction in the UK in recent years thanks to its price-performance ratio.

"You're talking about a fully blown UTM solution with a good bandwidth that comes in extremely price competitive against SonicWall," he said, adding that Cyberoam is now a viable option for UK schools and other public sector bodies after last year gaining an EAL4+ certification.

Patel said: "Together Sophos and Cyberoam form a powerhouse in network security. We are growing our network security businesses substantially faster than the market, and joining forces allows us to drive even greater innovation and value."