NAC ace Bradford Networks pulls direct UK presence

Security vendor says moving pre-sales support back to US will help it deliver better service as it expands into rapid threat response market

Bradford Networks has confirmed a support rejig at the security vendor will leave it with no direct UK presence, but has insisted the move will not disadvantage local partners.

The network access control (NAC) specialist contacted UK partners this week to inform them it will now be "handling all business matters pertaining to the sale of all Bradford product in EMEA out of our Boston headquarters".

The tweak will see the pre-sales work previously performed by two staff in the UK moved back to Boston, chief executive Dan Haley confirmed to CRN.

Boston already carries out all post-sales support.

"We certainly aren't pulling out of the UK market but reverting back to a model that has been successful in the past for our channel partners and customers in that market," Haley said.

Private equity-backed Bradford claims to have more than 900 customers globally. Despite recently appointing three UK distributors in quick succession, Haley said more than 90 per cent of its business is done with self-sufficient resellers such as Khipu Networks.

He scotched suggestions that the move is linked to flagging sales or market demand, instead linking it to the vendor's diversification beyond its NAC roots.

"We have recently launched a new product line called Network Sentry/Rapid Threat Response which decreases the time from when a security incident is detected until the time in which it is contained," Haley explained.

"This is a complementary product with our existing Network Sentry/NAC product which we will continue to sell and support. We felt our channel partners were better served having one location with full knowledge and support of our expanding product line."

Andrew Brimson, managing director of Khipu Networks, said his firm, as a "self-sufficient" partner, had had little to do with the EMEA team who he said focused on indirect partners and distributors.

"My read on the email from Bradford is purely that they are being prudent and cutting back where some of their strategies may not have been working as they wished," he said.

"We remain actively selling and supporting their product range both in the UK and South Africa and it continues to be well received in many areas."

However, Grahame Smee, managing director of distributor Exertis VAD Solutions, felt the move could spark discontent among some partners.

"In my experience, vendors seldom remove support when sales performance is on the up," he said.

"The NAC area is growing rapidly and we are seeing great success with our NAC partner ForeScout. But a lot of that success is driven by our ability to offer local support to our partners and end-user customers.

"If any partner or indeed end user feels they would benefit from more local support, we would be happy to assist them."