Westcon Group, Hewlett-Packard Partner On ArcSight Distribution

Westcon Group has inked North America and Europe distribution agreements with ArcSight, a Hewlett-Packard company. I spoke with Lynn Murphy, senior VP of U.S. and Canada at Westcon regarding the announcement and how VARs can potentially benefit. Here are the details:

Quick reminder: ArcSight specializes in security and compliance solutions, most notably the ArcSight Enterprise Threat and Risk Management platform. HP completed the ArcSight buyout in October 2010. Murphy said Westcon’s priority is to offer the best portfolio of security products possible.

The ArcSight ETRM platform covers many security bases, including collecting, analyzing and assessing security and risk information, IT infrastructure, external and internal threats, malware and hackers. It’s all available now. I asked Murphy to color in some details and expound upon the VAR angle.

“ArcSight has never leveraged distribution before,” she said. ArcSight choosing Westcon as its first distributor reflects Westcon’s reputation, and being able to offer a best-of-breed solution is key to Westcon, especially with the rise of cloud computing and more demanding security for vertical markets, she said. “All of these are driving a more complex set of security challenges,” Murphy said.

“As a reseller, [2011] is about “How am I going to grow strategically? Geographically, vertically, merger or acquisition, or [by] diversification and installed base? This addresses the diversification and/or installed base.”

Westcon, she added, keeps up-to-date competitive sales information for all its partners — something non-Westcon resellers might want to take note of. “Take a look at resources and tools we have to support to the channel, especially in security. We continue to build out our … portal. We’ve got podcasts and other great info, [too].”

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