Barracuda Beefs Up MSP Security Offer with Avast Acquisition

Barracuda Networks has acquired Avast‘s Managed Workplace remote monitoring and management (RMM) product line, and has entered into a multiyear agreement with Avast to resell its business security services to MSPs and their customers.

The Managed Workplace platform includes security tools and services, such as security site assessments, Office 365 account management and integrated antivirus. Barracuda said this combination reinforces its “commitment to the MSP marketplace and builds on the 132 percent year-over-year growth Barracuda MSP has seen for its security solutions.”

Brian Babineau, Barracuda MSP’s general manager and senior vice president, tells us his company gets a lot of feedback from its MSP partners about how their current tools could be better and how many tools weren’t built with security in mind.

Barracuda’s Brian Babineau

“Based on this feedback, we’ve looked at many different innovations, and we identified Managed Workplace as a tool with the potential to be more security-centric,” he said. “We believe there is a large gap in the MSP marketplace for a new type of RMM, a security-centric RMM that incorporates security requirements and tasks into a service provider’s daily management responsibilities. An MSP should be able to routinely assess security risks across all their clients, test and update password policies, patch devices, and manage email accounts and security from one console. Managed Workplace makes all of that possible.”

Barracuda MSP said its portfolio approach, led by security, has been “very successful” in the marketplace and is a key growth area for the company. Barracuda has doubled its international MSP partner base during the past two years, and the number of MSPs using multiple Barracuda offerings grew 36 percent year-over-year as of December.

Avast‘s business security services include integrated antivirus, integrated CloudCare antivirus, and Avast Business Antivirus Standard, Pro and Pro Plus.

“Our MSP partners agree that security tasks require a shift from a sporadic chore to an everyday responsibility to be effective, and the solutions necessary to make this transition have not been readily available to them,” Babineau said. “As a security-centric RMM, Managed Workplace helps MSPs address this challenge, so we’re pleased to add it to our portfolio of MSP solutions.”

“We believe the best way to serve the small to midsize business market is to focus 100 percent on our core mission of protecting them against advanced threats and potential losses of data, revenue and reputation caused by cyberattacks,” said Kevin Chapman, Avast Business’ general manager. “Avast Business is focused on investing in the channel to better serve SMBs with our layered security portfolio. We are fully committed to growing our partner network and working with Barracuda to offer our endpoint security portfolio to a wider MSP base.”