Forescout steps up A/NZ investment with Nextgen

Dave Patnaik (Forescout Technologies)

Cybersecurity automation vendor Forescout Technologies has stepped up its channel expansion plans adding Nextgen to its distribution mix in Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ).

Since January, Forescout has grown its channel and sales support team to more than 300 per cent and hired regional channel and alliance director Colin Garro along with new global systems integrator (GSI) regional leader for India Viswanath Singh.

Forescout Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) regional vice president Dave Patnaik said Forescout has been on a journey to transforming its business from network to cyber security and modernising its channel strategy along the way. 

He highlighted Nextgen’s investment in its cyber security practice, depth of understanding in the market and value of its distribution model as some of the key points that led to the appointment. 

“We have invested in the channel space and we are building our professional services business. We have technical engineers who are across the country and we are building a strong presence in Canberra as well,” Patnaik said.

“To support all that we are also investing in channel and digital marketing. Australia is a significantly vital market for us, the opportunities are tremendous and we really want to capture the market.”

Patnaik said the business was seeing growth across all verticals in the region spanning government, manufacturing, healthcare and financial services.

“We are taking a lot of leverage by working with solid partners like Nextgen. We want to really make sure that ecosystems which are building together are really well aligned with the market dynamics and the growth,” he added.

“The investment that we have made so far and the commitment that we have given to the channel will take us to the next level in FY23.”

Nextgen Group CEO John Walters said modernising its go-to-market strategy and strong footprint were important factors in the decision to partner with Forescout along with its ‘channel-first’ commitment. 

“We’ve done a lot of planning in the past three to six months around partner, account and end-user vertical mapping,” Walters said. “There’s a lot of investment that aligns with where Forescout wants to go in the market.”

Earlier this year, Nextgen Group hired Ross Wehby to lead its recently restructured cyber and data resiliency unit. 

The specialist distributor decided to merge its two cyber security and data management portfolios under a single leader to increase focus, capability, resources and redundancy. 

The newly rebranded unit features about 30 staff across Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN and is rapidly growing, maintaining a revenue base of greater than $150 million. 

Wehby took charge of the cyber portfolio following Gabe Marzano’s departure, who has since joined Palo Alto Networks. 

The portfolio contains a number of brands such as Arista Networks, Rubrik, CrowdStrike, Netskope, Imperva, Okta, Palo Alto, Nozomi and also draws upon the Nextgen CyberLAB and other services such as oSpace, Connect, Bang and Orbus Capital.