New Fortinet UK boss hails perfect storm
Rupert Clayson latest former F5 employee to join network security vendor
Fortinet's newly appointed UK boss claims he is joining the vendor amid a "perfect storm" for its technology.
The network security vendor has enlisted former F5 major accounts director Rupert Clayson to lead its UK business following the recent departure of Mark Hyland.
In his role as regional director of UK and Ireland, Clayson will link up with former F5 colleagues Andy Travers and Dave Park, both of whom have joined Fortinet in recent months.
Talking to CRN, Clayson said there is plenty of scope for Fortinet to grow in the UK.
"We're at a point in time where if you look at some of the drivers, such as compliance pressures, budgetary pressures and agility, it's a perfect storm for Fortinet to take a position in the marketplace," he said.
Fortinet recently ousted Juniper as the world's third-largest security appliance vendor behind Cisco and Check Point, according to IDC, and Clayson said the vendor has its sights set on moving into second spot.
The F5 connection does not end with Travers, Park and Clayson, with Avnet duo Carl Berry and Paul Martin – both of whom worked with F5 at the distributor – also on their way over.
Travers, whose role encompasses northern European territories including the UK, Germany and the Nordics, said the changes Fortinet is making to the UK business are part of a "very structured plan" for growth.
"What's important to me across the wider region is that we have strong leadership and then fuel our growth by attracting new talent into the sales teams," he said.
"We're at the beginning of a hiring journey. In a time when some people are finding it incredibly difficult to attract talent, a lot of talent in the market has realised Fortinet is on a good journey and we've really attracted some first-class candidates."
Travers, who has been at Fortinet for five months following stints at F5 and Juniper, added: "The thing that hugely attracted me to Fortinet is the fact that they have technology leadership in the space and an incredible suite of products that spreads far beyond their core firewall product."
Fortinet's DDoS and APT products will be among the growth spots for partners, Travers said.
Asked about his priorities for Fortinet's channel strategy, Travers said ensuring partners cater to new buying styles will be a key focus.
"We see over time the current partner landscape evolving," he said. "There is certainly a strong space for the reseller model, but we see an evolution in the route to market away from just CPE [customer premises equipment] to managed services and security-as-a-service."