AppRiver inks deal with first UK distributor Blue Solutions

US security SaaS provider switches on its British channel strategy

Consultancy and software VAD Blue Solutions has added AppRiver's email messaging and web security services to its portfolio.

Mark Charleton, co-founder and director of Blue Solutions, said AppRiver's SaaS offerings include Office365 Plus and Secure Hosted Exchange. Two customers are already trying Office365 Plus.

"We're seeing demand, particularly for email security, encryption and hosted Exchange," he said.

Charleton (pictured) said the 20-year-old firm has been gradually transforming itself from a box shifter to a value-adding distributor – a reflection of "a lot of change in a competitive industry". Month-by-month commitments, rather than annual contracts, now suited many customers better, he indicated, especially since Microsoft Small Business Server was discontinued.

"We have first-hand experience of vendors who think they don't need a distributor cutting us out of the equation," Charleton added. "Finding vendors that are channel focused and distribution friendly is a battle, but AppRiver completely understands the value created by the channel."

Wokingham-based Blue Solutions aims for the SMB VAR and MSP market, with vendors including Attix5, Microsoft, Symantec, DataFortress, Panda, LabTech, Trend Micro, Sage, and StorageCraft.

AppRiver opened an EMEA headquarters in Switzerland in 2012 and has been gradually developing and expanding its channel across Europe.