Ixia targets UK security resellers with new 100-per-cent channel model
Vendor looks to expand UK partner base as it goes fully channel
Security and visibility vendor Ixia is seeking UK security resellers after moving to a 100 per cent channel model.
Traditionally a manufacturer of network testing equipment, Ixia has moved away from its legacy focus over the past few years and further into the security and network visibility spaces - which now make up 50 per cent of its overall revenue.
As Ixia looks to increase this area it has moved to a 100 per cent channel model, with just its legacy business remaining direct, due to the complexity of the technology. Ixia could not disclose how much of its business currently goes through the channel, but said the transition to a 100 per cent channel would be a "double-digit increase".
Gabe Lewis, Ixia's EMEA head of visibility, explained that the vendor is now on the lookout for security resellers as it looks to expand its partner base in the UK.
"We have a lot of interest around security resellers in particular because we're really a security enabler for high-resilient deployment," he said. "Under that umbrella we want to continue to add additional resellers.
"There are folks such as Phoenix Datacom and Axial Systems that have been long-time partners and participants in our programme and this allows us to add even more of those key partners to the UK market."
Ixia currently has between four and 10 active UK partners, with a further few that are purely transactional at the moment. It has 800 partners globally.
Lewis explained that the vendor is on the lookout for two profiles of partners - security MSPs which specialise in the likes of FireEye, Palo Alto Networks, Darktrace and Fortinet; and application performance specialists with a deep knowledge of Riverbed and Viavi.
"As part of this programme we'd like to see more of the value-add come in because of our product line.
"We absolutely engage with the [likes of] BT Global Service and Dimension Data - we've transacted with them and put quite a bit of kit through those folks - but if you look at Phoenix Datacom, for example, they're not a large partner but they have really strong technical expertise and a lot of these value-add resellers are becoming more consultancy types anyway.
"It tends to blend depending on the end-user account. Service providers might look to a large SI and some, particularly in the financial segment, might have a longstanding relationship with some of these unique smaller resellers."
Partner clarity
Mike Simmonds, CEO at long-time Ixia partner Axial, said the announcement provides more clarity for Ixia's partner base.
"As a reseller it's always good to know that you're not going to be competing with your supplier. There is the absolute underwritten cast-iron guarantee that they're going to go channel for 100 per cent of their enterprise business," he said.
"It is clarity for their side of things and their reseller market because it's a little bit more competitive now than it was year ago [or] five years ago. There are a lot more people in this space now.
"If I had Ixia's shoes on I'd be doing exactly what they've done which is [say] 'you run for your lives on this, deal register it, make a good fist of promoting Ixia, present us in the best light, and we will be competitive'."