GEC NEWS WIRE“SourceFire is one of those unique security companies that can help the customers from the core to the end point and in all parts of their business”
With the enterprise security market in the EMEA region growing exponentially, it has become an imperative for organizations to take a proactive stance in mitigating the impact of sophisticated attacks. And that’s where, security vendors are continuing to innovate and deliver industry-leading threat protection products and solutions. Enterprise Channels MEA spoke to Anthony Perridge, Channel Director – EMEA, SourceFire, to get an insight on Middle East security market and how the company is cashing on these burgeoning market opportunities.
Tell us about the Middle East security market growth?
Middle East is our fastest growing markets. It’s an area of high investment for SourceFire. The potential threat of cyber attacks in the Middle East has seen a steep growth, as has the rest of the world, and has made many enterprises susceptible to these attacks. There is an increased awareness by corporations that are addressing the security issues more effectively. Increasingly businesses in the region know that it is not a question of if they are attacked, but when they are attacked. The security model has changed and therefore it is critical we can manage our security, before, during and after an incident rather than purely rely on defending the perimeter.
In this endeavor, we have been participating in Gitex every year, wherein it’s not just about gathering projects and leads but more about branding and showing our commitment to the region. This region is very exciting for us. This is a platform where we look forward to meeting our partners and customers as well as showcasing our solutions.
What kind of security solutions do you offer?
We actually have solutions for entire network – from the very core of the network to the end points. SourceFire is one of those unique security companies that can help the customer from the core to the end point and in all parts of their business.
How SourceFire products are sold – as software licenses or appliances?
Most of our business is appliance based because customers need high fidelity as well as high throughput. And to get that type of performance, often times you need to put it an appliance. Typically, businesses require custom appliance so that they get both the performance and reliability. On the other hand, our solutions are available as licenses as well, for example, if the customers want to run it on VMware in the virtual environment. So, customers certainly have the choice but for high speed networks, then have to go with appliances.
What solutions do your appliances provide?
We have a platform that can work as a next-generation IPS and you can also put up on this platform the next generation firewall as well as advanced malware protection. Here, the customers have the opportunity to invest in the platform and then maximize the investment by putting other security solutions from SourceFire on that platform. This is a very appealing proposition for the customers in terms of reducing the number of vendors as well as platform on their network.
Who are the ideal customers for SourceFire? Which vertical markets are you focusing strongly?
We sell to very sophisticated and security savvy organizations that take security very seriously. And those types of companies go to Gartner and see us right there at the top. These are the companies who go through NSS Lab0073 reports, which are independent and high respected research reports on technologies, and will see SourceFire is number one in performance and detection. This gives us a kind of proof of concept. We don’t worry about the competition because we articulate our message correctly and our solutions are validated from Gartner and NSS Labs. Hence, we are in a very good position and have high chances to win the customers.
We are extremely strong in defense organizations, government sector, telcos, finance sector, and critical national infrastructure like oil & gas segment in this region. These are the five key vertical industries that is on our radar. In terms of how we deliver the solutions, we provide them as managed services. For example, a bank needs to focus on its core job of banking and since security expertise is hard to find and retain as well as very expensive, and then it chooses to outsource it to a managed services company. So, if a customer doesn’t want to buy SourceFire as capital expenditure and want to include us in the operational expenditure, we can be delivered as managed service.
What kind of distribution model you follow to take your offerings to the market? How many partners do you have in this region?
Here in EMEA, we are 100 percent channel centric. We have a direct touch team wherein we go and meet the customers, articulate our solutions and show their significance, and why the customers should select us. We work entirely through channel partners, which include managed service providers as well.
SourceFire is all about quality and not quantity. In this region, we have two distributors viz. Secureway and FVC. Both have partners that posses expertise and skills to take SourceFire products deeper into the market. We don’t let our partners cut down each others’ profitability and margins, as they might loose interest in our products in the long run. Hence, we ensure that we have a very strong deal registration program. We reward the partners with extra discounts and margins for working with us and helping build the market. The other area where we emphasize on is the accreditation of the partners that would help them differentiate from the competition and helps us all in winning the business together.
What kind of market numbers have you set for the next year?
If you look at the history of SourceFire, every year since our formation about 10 years ago, we have grown always in the excess of 30 percent. This is not a prediction or commitment but we are historically, a very high growth company.
