Credit: Dreamstime
Nextgen Group has expanded its cyber security practice through creating an integration platform called CyberLAB.
The aim of the collaborative platform is to help channel partners demonstrate and provide ‘proof of concept’ (POC) in a single customer engagement across Nextgen’s cyber security vendor portfolio and additional vendors on request.
A Dynamic Learning Centre has also been built into the platform so partners can learn and see how multi-vendor integrations work in a non-vendor specific environment. It will be available for partners across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific.
“It is a collaborative cyber security platform where partners can emulate their customer environments to showcase multiple vendor integrations in real time to create seamless security solutions,” Nextgen cyber security solutions architect Ben Sullivan said.
“We saw that partners were frustrated with the length of the sales cycles that traditional distributors were taking to go through the process of discovery, dwell time, demos and POC.
“CyberLAB expedites the sales process to go from discovery to POC in a single session and will give the customer greater confidence that a multi-vendor solution can deliver the appropriate protection, but also bring more success to partners and vendors through higher sales closure rates.”
Sullivan said at the moment, partners and vendors alike, don't have the ability to showcase integrated technologies, live and in front of a customer, unless they build the technology themselves, and there's a certain level of trust involved in discussing how the integration will work in the same manner as displayed.
"Why not showcase the integration live, where the client can be brought on-board in the earlier discovery session, assess and roll-in a POC in a safe environment, without impacting their production," he said.
Nextgen cyber security business manager Gabe Marzano added Nextgen was the fastest growing cybersecurity distributor in the region, experiencing 800 per cent year-on-year growth. Since 2019, the cyber security unit has grown from two to 12 staff with more appointments to follow.
“Our cyber security practice is a highly specialised team of IT security experts which include ex-military cyber professionals,” Marzano said. “We are constantly looking for ways to bring more value to our vendors and partners, and we believe the CyberLAB is another key offering that delivers true value to the channel.”
Vendors have been supporting the initiative, with Netskope Asia Pacific vice president, Tony Burnside adding that no single vendor can solve all cyber challenges, and Nextgen’s CyberLAB provides the ability to demonstrate and train partners on the power of integration with key vendors such as Netskope, Okta and Imperva.
Sullivan hinted more vendors will be added to platform in the coming weeks.
