IT security distributor Vigil Software has been appointed by GrIDsure as its sole distributor in the UK.
Vigil has signed a distribution agreement for the next three years and will focus on recruiting new partners for the 2 factor authentication specialist, as well providing support and training to GrIDsure’s existing resellers.
GrIDsure specialises in tokenless authentication, and will be the only authentication vendor on Vigil’s books. “We wanted our distributor to be committed to us,” says Daniel Mothersdale, CEO of GrIDsure. “They wanted different type of authentication vendor, and not more than one.”
'Me too' companies
Director of Vigil Software, Alex Teh says the distributor had been looking for a 2 factor authentication vendor for two and half years. He tells Channel Pro: “There are a lot of commoditised, over-distributed vendors over there, and the margin retention for the channel and ourselves was not attractive enough for us. Traditional 2 factor authentication vendors sell one-time password tokens but the logistics around that operation can be high and the rewards are just not there. There’s lots of ‘me too’s out there.
“What’s the difference between an RSA and a Vasco key? There’s no difference,” he adds.
Meanwhile, Mothersdale admits his perception of UK distribution “has not been great.” He says: “We stopped using distribution... [Distributors] had begun to get a bad name as just order takers and passed them on to resellers. How do they benefit me?”
Despite this, he describes Vigil’s operations as “a breath of fresh air”, and praised the firm’s ability to add real value to their relationship.
Taking aim at competitors RSA, Vasco and Cryptocard, Teh says: “They are behemoths in the sector and they traditionally have three to four distributors. A vendor’s [ability] to control deal registration and partner programmes where three or four routes to market is limited.
“It’s too hard to ensure margin retention of twenty percent,” he adds, placing other vendors’ margins at around five to 10 percent, whereas Teh says resellers can earn 20 percent with GrIDsure.
Teh says many organisations are evaluating their 2-factor authentication strategy as hard tokens are costly and difficult to manage. “Tokenless authentication is more secure than a 2 factor authentication token, is easy to deploy and easy to manage – there’s no asset management behind it,” he says.
Alternative
He is also keen to make hay while the well-publicised RSA security breach remains in peoples’ minds: “Secure, multi factor authentication is extremely important to securing networks. At a time when public sector spending has been slashed, organisations still need to secure their networks. Why should they spend £60 or £70 on refreshing RSA keys that have been hacked when tokenless vendors are a third of the price?”
Referring to the hack, Mothersdale adds: “Users are crying out for an alternative to hardware tokens. For years they have used hardware tokens – and accepted the cost. Now the yearly cost is getting larger – and lo and behold RSA was hacked, and how secure are these tokens anymore? Thank goodness there’s an alternative out there.”
Mothersdale says the Cambridge-based firm is “recruiting massively” across the board at the moment, as well as expanding into Europe. Operating a hundred percent indirect sales strategy, it currently has 15 channel partners it engages with, and Teh states he’d like to bring 35 partners on board. “I think that number is manageable, plus it will give us enough market reach to hit GrIDsure’s financial goals.”
