Avnet wins rights to distribute Websense in NZ

Avnet ANZ vice-president and general manager, Darren Adams

Avnet A/NZ has announced that it is has picked up Websense in a NZ distribution deal, to complement its existing Australian operations.

Avnet has been distributing Websense in Australia for over five years, but has now announced that it has taken the New Zealand business from Westcon. This new partnership will extend the existing Australian relationship, allowing them to leverage the Avnet’s sales, technical and support resources across both Australia and New Zealand to boost efficiencies.

Darren Adam, Avnet ANZ VP and GM, has said that the company is looking to scale up its presence in New Zealand and develop new product lines, of which security will be a key focus going forward. While the distie’s focus over FY2014/15 has been on storage lines, security and networking will be the key focus of FY2016/17.

Websense currently has over 25 resellers in New Zealand, all of which will be supported by Avnet.

“Avnet is proud to be expanding our relationship with Websense, taking their premium enterprise security solution into the New Zealand marketplace,” said Adams.

Avnet has two dedicated staff on the ground, one new hire, a business development manager, and an engineer, both of which will be directly supported by the Australian team.

Overall, Adams is predicting the deal to be worth “a few million dollars a year”, and will tie the Websense offering into its wider solutions provision portfolio.

“Next year the security market is expected to grow in high single digit, and low double digits across ANZ, with growth rates of around 8-9 per cent overall,” he said.

The Australian team will support the kiwi team with proof of concept, and workshops on solution design, including detailed tech support, alongside conventional support.

Training will be another key focus. It already has a couple of partners fully certified, and is already planning an authorised Websense training facility.

“We will have further investments to follow, across both pre and post sales, we want to be more active in training partners. We want to focus on renewals and the maintenance business,” he said.

Websense has said that New Zealand is a growing market and wants to support partners who serve as trusted security advisors to assist local businesses in fending off cyber attacks and data theft.

“We were looking for a distributor in New Zealand that was willing to invest heavily in Websense and our technology,” said David Adams, Territory Manager for Websense in New Zealand.

“We’re pleased to be working closer with Avnet in both countries. We know that working with a distributor that intimately understands the IT security landscape, will offer our resellers the kind of support they need to capitalise on the business opportunity Websense technologies present.”