Prianto says US move will boost vendor clout

Virtualisation and security VAD achieves transatlantic coverage with launch of seventh territory

Virtualisation and security distributor Prianto claims it has gained the upper hand with vendors after launching a US office.

The new operation in Denver is being headed up by Tom Zorn and Fred Green, who sold their previous virtualisation distributor, Alternative Technology, to Arrow in 2006.

This means Germany-headquartered Prianto operates in seven territories: Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, and now the US.

Prianto UK CEO Yuri Pasea (pictured) told CRN the addition of a US operation would enable Zorn, Green and their team to seed the US market for European vendors. Prianto US is already working with existing Prianto UK vendor partner 8MAN.

Pasea said the genesis of Prianto US can be traced to a meeting he had with Zorn in San Francisco last year.

"I've been very friendly with Tom for about 20 years - when I owned Centia he owned Alternative Technology and both companies were sold to Arrow. We had a discussion where he said he wanted to get back into distribution and we thought it would be a great idea to invest and use the Prianto name."

Prianto GmbH owns a non-controlling share in all the subsidiaries but in the case of Prianto US it has taken an even smaller stake than usual, Pasea said.

"In return we have allowed them to use the Prianto name because we feel the benefit of having that name on both the European and US side will give us an advantage with the vendors," he said. "We have some great European technology that Tom and his team would like to bring into the US and, for us, Tom is very well connected in vendorland in the US. It makes sense."

Prianto US currently has five staff, Pasea added.

"They are starting relatively small and, as with every Prianto company, they have no investors, no loans and no debt," he explained. "And it's the same formula of virtualisation and security, which go hand in hand. If you look at all Prianto countries it's about 60:40 virtualisation versus security."

8MAN, a Germany-based access rights management vendor, is extending its pact with Prianto from the UK and the Netherlands not only to the US but also Germany, with Austria and Switzerland soon to follow.

8MAN CEO Jens Puhle recently told CRN he was looking for focused resellers able to "drink, eat and sleep" 8MAN and said the philosophy for distribution is similar.

"Prianto are just as hungry as we are and we want to have that synergy and go after the market together," he said.

"We have a lot of requests coming from the US, which is the next logical step. Last week I had a request from the security office of the University of Stanford to send some documentation on what [we've been doing] in the UK."

Pasea added: "In the case of 8MAN, Varonis are the only competitor and I think this gives Fred and Tom a really good opportunity to break into the US market."