SafeNet Inks Deal With Arrow Electronics For Secure Cloud

Arrow will distribute the ProtectV secure cloud encryption technology. ProtectV is compatible with VMware vShield and VMware vCenter. It enables partners to sell data encryption to organizations using VMware virtualization technology or Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure.

Belcamp, Md.-based security vendor SafeNet said the extended North American distribution agreement with Arrow builds on its two-factor authentication portfolio. The deal also includes distribution of SafeNet's StorageSecure, an encryption appliance for Network Attached Storage (NAS), and are delivered with virtualization and storage solutions from multiple vendors. StorageSecure connects to 1- or 10-Gb Ethernet networks and encrypts information without impacting ongoing operations or reducing information availability, SafeNet said.

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The deal fits nicely with Arrow's go-to-market strategy of focusing on data center technologies and midmarket enterprise products, said Mike Nowlan, vice president of North American security, virtualization, and networking at Arrow. The company has a strong server business, distributing IBM, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard solutions, and an enterprise storage, security, virtualization and networking business.

For a number of years virtualization has been synonymous with less mission critical applications and data, but in the last year or so, companies have been migrating significant amounts of workloads off of non-virtualized servers to virtualized infrastructure, Nowlan said.

"This is a great fit with our storage reseller base, and we have a significant VMware virtualization practice with a huge reseller base," Nowlan said. "Resellers are getting the message out in ways to protect virtualized environments."

SafeNet is filling a white space opportunity, Nowlan said, because end users are very likely only familiar with SafeNet's authentication business. "This could bring SafeNet a bunch of net new users and resellers that aren't selling SafeNet products," he said.

SafeNet has expanded its channel managers regionally and is trying to align itself with Arrow to tap into other virtualization and storage partners to sell products from its encryption and authentication portfolio, said Laurie Usewicz, vice president, channel sales, SafeNet. Virtualization adoption with sensitive data has been slow because companies need to know its protected, Usewicz said.

"The approach that end customers have taken to protect data needs to change," Usewicz said. "We encourage the end customer to continue to have firewalls and VPNs, but the reality, in accordance to what is happening, is that you can't just protect perimeter anymore."

Several other security vendors offer ways to encrypt cloud data. San Jose, Calif.-based CipherCloud, an emerging vendor, sells a cloud encryption gateway technology that addresses data protection before it enters cloud infrastructure. Cupertino, Calif.-based Voltage Security also sells encryption for the cloud.

A sales engineer at an Arrow reseller who has sold SafeNet's two-factor authentication to a variety of clients, told CRN that adoption of data protection technologies for public cloud or virtualized infrastructure continues to be slow, he said, requesting to remain anonymous. Over time, interest should rise as the sensitivity of data migrating to virtualized infrastructure increases, he said.

PUBLISHED JUNE 3, 2013