Exclusive Networks expands BalaBit partnership into UK

Distribution partnership now extends to UK, France and Benelux regions for log management vendor

Exclusive Networks has extended its partnership with log management vendor BalaBit to the UK, France and Benelux regions.

Headquartered in Luxembourg, BalaBit provides a log management offering called syslog-ng, which it claims is used by more than a million companies worldwide. It operates in 40 countries and its customers include 23 of the Fortune 100 companies.

The partnership is built on the pair's existing co-operation in Germany, and means Exclusive Networks will become BalaBit's sole distributor in the new regions.

Speaking about the announcement, Graham Jones, UK country manager of Exclusive Networks, said he expects BalaBit to be very profitable for the channel.

"BalaBit joins a select group of other early-stage vendors in this division, all of which represent the most exciting disruptive technologies with the potential to deliver strong margins for the channel," he said.

"As we slowly move away from the good old days which were all about defending, towards detecting, remediation and fixing, that's where BalaBit fits in. It also plugs very well to our existing vendors such as LogRhythm, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet, so for our current VARs it's a very complementary product."

Jones said he is looking to bring on six security-focused VARs for BalaBit in the UK.

BalaBit currently operates with a "limited number" of partners in each of its markets.

In 2014, the firm secured $8m (£5m) in funding from European security and data investor C5 Venture Capital, in an effort to expand the vendor's market share in the UK, the US and Scandinavia.

Along with the extended partnership, BalaBit has appointed Robert Billington as its new UK channel manager. He is charged with expanding the company's partner activities in the region.

"I'm looking forward to further building our channel, brand and market in the UK at what is a particularly exciting time for the organisation," Billington said.

"We are one of the fastest-growing IT security companies in Europe, with market-leading technology solutions, and so building a strong channel presence is pivotal to our continued growth. To this end, we offer a programme designed to support our partners throughout the sales life cycle."