RSA Security appoints Westcon as Africa distributor

As part of its local strategy to bolster its regional channel activity and enhance pre- and post-sales support operations, RSA Security has announced the immediate appointment of channel provider, Westcon.

According to Peter Burgess, territory manager: sub-Saharan Africa, Westcon will be responsible for the distribution of RSA`s suite of authentication, encryption and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) products.

"Westcon was the prime candidate as a result of its dedicated security division, strong networking skills sets, security-focused VAR channel and extensive geographic footprint," he says.

"The company is also one of the major networking product channel providers on the African continent and has extensive experience in enterprise networking, education and training, and technical support. And as an early entrant into the network security space, the company is far advanced in its total security offerings."

Derek Nareen, business development director at Westcon, concurs: "For over a year now we`ve been actively expanding our security division to offer end-to-end solutions for the enterprise and burgeoning SMME markets. With the addition of RSA Security`s SecureID, BSAFE and Keon products, we now have one of the most complete security solutions available."

Nareen, however, cites extensive technical and sales training as key to achieving success in its security channel.

"Selling security solutions is not merely a plug-and-play situation," he says. "It requires careful planning and understanding of an organisation`s internal and external requirements - particularly as e-business initiatives are adopted. Thus, the careful selection of security VARs and integration partners who have an in-depth understanding of multi-layered security technologies and implementations."

Westcon boasts a comprehensive set of in-house channel development programmes where a variety of training `tracks` are offered to its channel partners. For example, its Fast Track programme provides customers with specific vendor product information and solutions which prepares them for vendor certification. Another progressive programme focuses on how to transform technology into profitable business opportunities. This comprises a series of nationwide seminars where customers have the opportunity to meet the vendors of specific products, learn about new technology developments and specific selling strategies.

"We currently have a number of engineers undergoing extensive training on RSA Security products and will be in the position to extend this training to our channel in the near future. This is vitally important as one of the major barriers-to-entry in most vendor channel accreditation processes are the costs involved in overseas training," adds Nareen.

While Westcon will initially focus on bringing RSA Security`s SecureID two-factor authentication products to market, both Burgess and Nareen see immense opportunities for the company in the PKI space.

"A recent study undertaken by research company Datamonitor shows RSA Security currently has a 62% and 96% share of the hardware and software authentication token global market respectively," says Burgess.

"The report also shows our share of the PKI market having grown to 13%. And with the recent acquisition of Xcert International, a privately held company that develops and delivers digital certificate-based products for securing e-business transactions, we are moving towards achieving our goal of leading the PKI marketplace and maintaining a faster growth rate for PKI revenues and market share than any other vendor."