WestconGroup Takes Aim At Hot Startups With Incubation Program

WestconGroup is hoping to get bigger by thinking smaller.

The distributor Monday launched a new incubation program aimed at bringing five up-and-coming technology vendors into emerging markets overseas.

The first company in the new program is FireMon, a fast-growing security company started by Gary Fish, the one-time CEO of FishNet Security, which earlier this year merged with Accuvant.

[Related: FireMon Continues Executive Shuffle With New President, COO]

"This program will accelerate our penetration in [emerging] markets where we have not yet established a presence," said Todd DeBell, vice president, channel and distribution sales at Overland Park, Kan.-based FireMon.

Among the critical areas the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based distributor is helping FireMon crack are currency translation, taxes, compliance and language issues, said DeBell.

FireMon has captured more than 2,000 leads from customers interested in the vendor's security intelligence platform and is in the process of helping partners close those deals, said DeBell.

Anthony D'Angelo, WestconGroup vice president of global management, said the program provides emerging vendors with the tools to become the big players in the global market. "This is about looking to the future," he said.

WestconGroup is providing vendors like FireMon the same distribution muscle that it traditionally provides powerhouses like Cisco and Palo Alto Networks.

"Each vendor gets executive sponsorship," he said, adding that each vendor in the program receives all the resources that a distributor the size of WestconGroup brings to larger, more established vendors.

WestconGroup is attempting to hammer down deals with four other vendors specializing in solutions for data centers, security, cloud and networking, the company said.

"It’s a good thing whenever a disty or VAR has a good framework in place to evaluate new technologies," said Chris Ward, chief technology officer of GreenPages, the Kittery, Maine-based national solution provider, No. 159 on the 2015 CRN Solution Provider 500, in an email to CRN commenting on the incubation program. "The industry is moving so quickly that we are constantly hearing about and looking at new vendors and solutions to bring to market."

PUBLISHED JUNE 29, 2015