25 March 2015

ChannelBiz says, "Cloud Distribution pushes real VAD marketing tool for partners"

Partners can now access either pre-built or self-build vendor electronic direct mail campaigns and rapidly put together their own campaigns

Value added distributor Cloud Distribution has enhanced its Cloud Confidential “self-service” VAR portal, with the introduction of its Cloud Altitude Marketing Tool, designed to “enable immediate lead generation and rapid pipeline build”.

Partners can now access either pre-built or self-build vendor electronic direct mail (EDM) campaigns and rapidly put together their own campaigns. “In less than 60 seconds”, said Cloud Distribution, they can create a fully branded and personalised mailer and landing page with their company logo.

This is automatically tracked against vendor campaigns. Once live, prospects simply fill in a form and leads are captured via the portal and the partner is alerted.

Vanessa Cardwell, marketing manager of partner Network Utilities, said: “It couldn’t be simpler. Cloud Altitude enables access to relevant content to build relevant campaigns, literally in seconds.”

During April, the Cloud Confidential portal will be enhanced even further to include the capability for self-build content. The partner will be able to drag and drop vertically aligned content into a mailer, which they can edit and develop according to their requirements. Partners can access an extensive library of content to build campaigns, which includes whitepapers, video links, data sheets and banners.

David Henderson, director of partner BlueFort Security, said: “I have worked with many distributors who use the ‘value add’ tag to describe what they do and it is a bit of a cliché. Cloud Altitude really is adding value, delivering exactly what we need. No one else in the channel provides this.”

Keith Archer, sales director from partner A10 Networks, said: “This is what distributors should be doing but most don’t. In fact, there is no other marketing tool on the market that has the capability to build a campaign this quickly.”

Cloud Altitude also offers Managed Campaigns whereby partners can request marketing resource and support for lead generation activity, events, email campaigns, seminars, webinars or telemarketing activities.

Adam Davison (pictured), director at Cloud Distribution, said: “Our new marketing tool is designed to encourage our partners to accelerate their lead generation activities by rapidly and easily creating campaigns. It is unique in that you can literally create a campaign from start to finish in just four clicks.”

Paul Hennin, director of international marketing at Cloud Distribution partner Aerohive Networks, said: “Cloud’s new marketing tool has enabled our partners to create smart mailers, bespoke landing pages and capture leads in record time, taking the burden off their internal teams.”


http://www.channelbiz.co.uk/2015/03/25/cloud-distribution-pushes-real-vad-marketing-tool-for-partners/

CRN says, "Cloud Distribution hands partners campaign marketing tool"

Ever since its launch Cloud Distribution has positioned itself as a channel player providing something a bit different with its marketing support for resellers one of the key areas it has looked to stand out.

As well as keeping a fairly focused portfolio around security, networking and from relatively recently also storage, the firm has tried to add value with the approach it takes to partners.

it's latest efforts are intended to speed up the marketing support that resellers can use as they develop their own campaigns to take out to customers and prospects by adding more tools to its self-service Cloud Confidential portal.

The distributor has launched its Cloud Altitude marketing tool that claims to be able to help a reseller develop electronic direct mail campaigns in less than sixty seconds choosing between off the shelf already built packages or by customising those resources.

Resellers were instrumental in asking for the support and the reaction from partners has been positive with many commenting on the speed and the ease of use of the Altitude service.

Adam Davison, director at Cloud Distribution, said that the marketing tool could build a campaign in just four clicks and was designed to help partners get more involved with the distributor and the vendors that it carried.

“Our new marketing tool is designed to encourage our partners to accelerate their lead generation activities by rapidly and easily creating campaigns," he said.

Cloud Distribution has already signed up a handful of vendors so far this year as it extends its roster most recently adding cloud networking security player OpenDNS to its books earlier this month.

http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/4500243056/Cloud-Distriution-hands-partners-campaign-marketing-tool

10 March 2015

CRN says, "Cloud Distribution unlocks door for OpenDNS"

Cloud Distribution becomes first UK distie for security player OpenDNS

Cloud Distribution has continued its vendor-signing streak in 2015, this time agreeing a deal with US security player OpenDNS.

OpenDNS provides cloud-based network security services which harness predictive intelligence to combat malware and attacks that are missed by antivirus software and firewalls.

News that Cloud Distribution has reached a deal to become OpenDNS's first international distributor comes hot on the heels of the VAD's signing of LogLogic and Memblaze.

Cloud Distribution is the first UK distie OpenDNS has taken on, as it launches in the region.

Adam Davison, Cloud Distribution's director, told CRN his firm decided to partner with OpenDNS because it was offering a unique approach to protecting enterprise networks from malware and also because it is complementary to Cloud Distribution's portfolio.

OpenDNS partners with other security vendors such as FireEye and Check Point, and Davison said these partnerships can give the channel "big value". FireEye, for example, integrates with the OpenDNS technology to provide more complete protection from malware, Davison said.

He added that Open DNS can give FireEye and Check Point partners the chance to "gain incremental revenues by wrapping OpenDNS as a value-add".

The reception from Cloud Distribution's partners has been very positive thus far, Davison added.

"We launched it officially to the channel eight days ago, and we are talking to a number of partners who want to sign up to the partner programme already. The reception has been fantastic, and we have already signed up Blue Fort Security, one of the leading RSA partners in the UK."

Davison said he would be looking to sign some of Cloud Distribution's current pool of partners, as well as reaching out to new ones, but said he did not have a specific target in mind for how many he would like to sign up with OpenDNS.

Marc Gemassmer, vice president of worldwide sales at OpenDNS, said: "As our business continues to expand in 2015, we have selected the UK as our first international market on which to focus.

"With Cloud Distribution we look forward to gaining rapid traction into channels here in the UK."

http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2398865/cloud-distribution-unlocks-door-for-opendns

Comms Business says, "Cloud Distribution signs OpenDNS"

Value added distributor (VAD) Cloud Distribution has just signed a new vendor, OpenDNS, to add to its roster of vendors in its portfolio.

OpenDNS uses predictive intelligence to combat the malware, botnets and advanced attacks that antivirus software and firewalls miss. Umbrella, the company’s flagship cloud security suite, is already used by 10,000 businesses worldwide to proactively protect against known and emergent threats before their networks are attacked. Cloud Distribution is OpenDNS’ first international distributor as it looks to launch and build a presence in the UK.

The rise of the mobile workforce has led to the erosion of the traditional network perimeter, leaving organisations more vulnerable to attack. According to analyst firm Gartner, by 2018 25 percent of corporate data traffic will bypass perimeter security and flow directly from mobile devices to the cloud. OpenDNS protects these employees against malicious activity and works anywhere, across any port, protocol or app.

OpenDNS has partnered with Cloud Distribution because of the company’s proactive approach, channel enablement tools and support programmes, as well as its ability to create the right type of partner base in the UK to accelerate market adoption. Adam Davison, Director at Cloud Distribution, comments: “Today, work is accessible everywhere because the cloud has made it simpler to access data outside of the office. Three trends have resulted. First, the more apps you move to the cloud, the more data that is potentially exposed. Second, more and more organisations are arming their workforce with mobile devices and laptops, which in turn is giving attackers more breech points. And third, the more networks users connect from, the less visibility organisations have. The OpenDNS solution is perfectly placed to deal with these issues and brings security to the cloud, distributing it outwards into the Internet and deploying at customer locations within minutes.”

Marc Gemassmer, vice president of worldwide sales at OpenDNS, comments: “OpenDNS is experiencing rapid growth worldwide. As our business continues to expand in 2015, we have selected the UK as our first international market on which to focus. The effectiveness of our security solutions coupled with ease of deployment and simplicity of manageability truly sets us apart. Partners can provision a free trial for their customer in moments, then enforce security policies and view network activity worldwide minutes later. With Cloud Distribution we look forward to gaining rapid traction into channels here in the UK.”

http://commsbusiness.co.uk/news/cloud-distribution-signs-opendns/

IT Europa says, "OpenDNS makes first international move with Cloud Distribution"

Cloud Distribution has just signed an important deal with a new vendor, OpenDNS. For the vendor, this represent its first international move as it looks to sign up UK resellers.

OpenDNS is a provider of cloud-delivered network security services that uses predictive intelligence and analytics on DNS servers. Umbrella, the company’s flagship cloud security suite, is already used by 10,000 businesses worldwide, it says.

Adam Davison, Director at Cloud Distribution is excited about the business potential: “We have already signed several reseller partners in the last week or so. It is very complementary to the other parts of our security and networking portfolios.”

OpenDNS is well established in the US market, and is arguably the largest analyser of data movements outside Google because of the way it monitors DNS calls. Cloud Distribution has been talking to it for over a year, so this is a planned long-term step into Europe.

“It can be sold as a standalone; or as an add-on to existing security or wifi monitoring which merely reports on breaches,” he says. And because it does not require an agent on the client’s devices, it can be sold to IT departments looking to safeguard mobile devices in secure environments.

The target end users will be those enterprises threatened by breaches; it can also be a solution for organisations coming under attack. He cites the attack on the New York Times two years ago, which was a DNS hijack: those accessing the site through OpenDNS got the right site, others were redirected and were sent to an impersonating site.

Also, integrations with FireEye and CheckPoint Software allow partners the ability to extend the threat intelligence found by existing security solutions at the network core and use OpenDNS to protect mobile users and branch offices via integrated APIs. OpenDNS also enables Aerohive and Aruba partners to provide network security for wireless hotspots at customer sites.

http://www.iteuropa.com/?q=opendns-makes-first-international-move-cloud-distribution