From AI and software robots to new security techniques such as isolation, which hot tech start-ups could break through this year? We asked execs at 10 resellers, from cyber-security and cloud specialists to big players such as Daisy and Softcat, for their tips
Menlo Security
Founded: 2013
Total funds raised: $85.5m (Crunchbase)
HQ: Menlo Park, California
Field: Web and email isolation
Cheerleader: David Lannin, Sapphire
This ‘isolation' specialist scored $40m in Series C funding in December and has the financial clout, management pedigree and technology to take the UK channel by storm in 2018, according to one of its newly recruited partners, Sapphire.
Menlo's ‘isolation' platform works by opening websites and emails in secure cloud-based containers and rendering a copy of the content on the end-point device - therefore keeping potentially harmful content away from the device itself.
Tipping Menlo for take-off is David Lannin (pictured), director of technology at Sapphire, who said the Californian vendor is one of the few start-ups he has seen in recent months whose offering is more than just a feature.
"While there are other vendors starting to move into [isolation] - Symantec has an offering now and no doubt Intel and other people will shortly - the difference with Menlo is they address not only web but also email," Lannin said.
"[If you take web] they are interpreting what the website is doing and presenting you with a copy of that, but that is stripped out of any active content and anything that might push down malware to the end-point client."
Menlo launched its first UK partner programme last year in a bid to steal market share from FireEye and now employs 25 staff in the UK, several of whom previously worked for its rival (including EMEA VP Paul Davis and EMEA CTO Jason Steer).
"Menlo have really taken the bull by the horns and put a UK team in place that understands how to take technology to market," said Lannin.
Click onto the next page to read Epaton MD Jonathan Lassman's top tech tip for 2018
