Tech Data announced this week that it is partnering with StratoZen to make available a managed security service to partners that have sold networking and security infrastructure from Fortinet.
The goal is to make it simpler for Fortinet partners to generate recurring revenue from security services without necessarily having to invest in a security operations center or try and hire cybersecurity professionals that are in chronic supply, says Alex Ryals, vice president for security solutions at Tech Data.
The partnership with StratoZen complements an existing hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) program that Tech Data has in place that also serves to reduce the amount of capital a partner needs to invest to deliver networks and security solutions, says Ryals.
“We’ve taken the risk out of the equation for the channel partner,” says Ryals.
The Fortinet initiative is only an example of a find push towards technology-as-a-service (TaaS) that is underway at Tech Data, notes Ryals.
StratoZen claims to already have over 50,000 devices under management, a number that could exponentially increase if Tech Data rallies its solution provider community in support of both Fortinet and StratoZen. Of course, Tech Data also has existing relationships with Fortinet archrivals such as Cisco.
But regardless of the path chosen, it’s clear Tech Data is pouring considerable resources into enabling partners that have traditionally resold IT infrastructure to make the shift to a recurring revenue model based on the delivery of various services.
Not every solution provider may be prepared to make that transition. But as the rate at which customers transition to consuming IT resources on demand in the age of the cloud continues to increase, the more solution providers will need to embrace the inevitable no matter how reticent they may be.
As for partners that have already made the transition to managed services, many of them now need to ask themselves where best to focus their investments as many of the managed services they once had to build essentially become just another product that can find on a distributor’s line card.
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