CMS Distribution boldly goes into security with AlienVault deal

Distributor says AlienVault just the start of wider investment it will make in security market

Fresh from signing unified security management vendor AlienVault, CMS Distribution has revealed cybersecurity will be a new focus as it strives to reach £500m turnover by 2020.

CMS Distribution has been appointed as AlienVault's third UK distributor, working alongside incumbents Exertis VAD Solutions and Alpha Generation.

The distributor will focus on attracting new resellers in the mid-market, where it claims AlienVault's USM solution stacks up well against enterprise-focused security information and event management (SIEM) vendors. The partnership complements its existing relationships with open source vendors Red Hat, SUSE and Enterprise DB, it added.

Justin Griffiths, group director of software solutions at CMS Distribution, revealed CMS is intent on on-boarding more vendors as it diversifies from its roots in storage and looks to grow to £500m turnover.

"Security is a space that CMS Distribution has not focused on previously and it is an area that we will invest in as we move forward towards our goal," said Griffiths.

"AlienVault is a natural fit to our existing portfolio – recently noted as a visionary within Gartner's 2015 Magic Quadrant for SIEM – [and] we believe this is an exciting time to position this niche technology."

Griffiths claimed AlienVault's USM solution gives the vendor an "unfair advantage" against other SIEM vendors in the mid-market based on its simplicity and price point. CMS, which works with more than 3,000 resellers, has already conducted several demos and is "starting to see orders come through", he added.

Justin Endres, senior vice president of worldwide sales at AlienVault, added: "With our USM platform, AlienVault Labs Threat Intelligence and the Open Threat Exchange, we deliver on the promise of a unified, simple and affordable solution for threat detection and compliance management.

"Now, with the addition of CMS Distribution, we have an accelerated path to those resellers who are seeking alternatives to costly and resource-intensive SIEM solutions."

Griffiths claimed AlienVault, which has six UK channel account managers, is growing at 50 per cent year on year and has "aggressive goals" for UK and European expansion. SIEM was the fastest-growing sub-segment of the cybersecurity market last year, Griffiths added.

"New research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) suggests that the true cost of cybercrime to business in the UK is as high as £34bn per year," he said. "In short, these are ambitious goals that we have agreed to chase with AlienVault so there is a significant opportunity for our channel community."

However, Alpha Generation director Chris Walsh questioned the logic of the appointment.

"It is a peculiar decision because CMS are not what you would look at as a security distributor; they are certainly not our typical competition," he said.