CrowdStrike picks Ignition Technology as second UK distributor

CrowdStrike’s chief business officer Daniel Bernard tells CRN the deal was driven by partner and customer cybersecurity demand

CrowdStrike today announced it has signed a distribution deal with Ignition Technology to meet growing cybersecurity needs in the UK.

Ignition is the NASDAQ-listed vendor's second distributor in the UK alongside Westcon-Comstor.

The deal will give CrowdStrike's solution providers resources to increase the availability of the AI-native CrowdStrike XDR Falcon platform to UK businesses through Ignition's partner network.

To find out more about the partnership, CRN sat down with Daniel Bernard, CrowdStrike's chief business officer, and Sean Remnant, chief strategy officer at Ignition Technology.

CrowdStrike has a bold ambition to grow from $2.9bn annual recurring revenue in FY2024 to $10bn in 5-7 years, partly through its core technologies and channel partners.

Bernard explains how Ignition fits into this strategy.

"We were looking for the right kind of distribution partner to complement our strategy. One that's proactive with new technologies, that fits our platform approach in terms of transforming EDR, identity, cloud, data protection as well as the SIEM opportunity," he says.

"Across those areas Ignition has the technical expertise as well as the complimentary vendors. So we can really go to market with a full broad based solution set with the technical capabilities to help partners on the journey."

He adds how Ignition presents a "certain DNA" to bringing new technologies to market.

"What I really like about CrowdStrike, and our approach is, although we created the EDR category, there's so many new technologies that are part of our platform.

"So it's that day zero mentality that we both share. That culture of, we're going to start something and literally ignite it. And that's what we want to do and that's the power and the shared DNA that we have together of what we want to do in the UK."

Meanwhile, Remnant explains how Ignition wanted in on CrowdStrike's major growth plans.

"CrowdStrike is the poster child of cybersecurity today," he says.

"They are the ones to watch with their big growth aspirations. We'd be silly to not want to be part of that."

Another key step in CrowdStrike's growth journey is its platform play, which Remnant adds fits into Ignition's approach.

"They're building out their platform which really fits into our ethos. We want to help partners and customers build out solutions that address their challenges.

"But where we fit in the market is where we can help our partners in terms of educating them and evangelising about what's available.

"I think CrowdStrike is doing remarkably well. And they're growing so fast that to achieve their targets, they're gonna need help from the channel."