Cloud Distribution puts ‘value’ back into VAD for next-generation, networking and security vendors

Reading, UK, 21^st January 2013 - Value Added Distributor, Cloud Distribution, has thrown down the gauntlet to other Value Added Distributors who offer little or no support to as yet “undiscovered” vendors that have the potential to disrupt the UK market’s status quo.  The company has hired start up industry veteran, Adam Davison, to seek out next generation networking and security vendors to complement Cloud Distribution’s portfolio of disruptive technology solutions. Davison will be actively looking for companies that wish to bring innovative networking and security technology solutions to the UK, but in order to gain a significant foothold they need to partner with a distributor who understands their market and delivers real value-add.

To reinforce the value-add, Davison’s team has developed tools for the channel to help launch these new solutions to the market quickly and efficiently.  These include tailored vendor support launch packs, bespoke sales training, presales and technical training, a virtual marketing team and an end user pipeline generation platform all designed to help VARs get up to speed with the new solutions and grow an immediate pipeline of qualified opportunities.

Adam Davison comments, “I have first-hand experience of what it’s like as a start-up trying to break through.  It’s tough when you’re operating in an environment where the more established vendors get all the distributor’s energy and attention. There is a real need for a “next-generation distributor” – a company that is willing to put evangelistic effort into less well-known, but high value proposition vendors.”

Scott Dobson, Managing Director of Cloud Distribution said: “In the current economic climate distributors need to be truly adding value - a term that is overused and undervalued. Cloud Distribution specialises in innovative and disruptive new technologies that VARs can take to market quickly and easily and where the value in the transaction can truly be seen.  I am confident that Adam will help us take the company to the next level and strengthen our channel proposition.”

Cloud Distribution has already successfully launched a number of vendors to the UK market including Meraki, Peplink, Vit@r and Vyatta, which was recently acquired by Brocade.

Adam’s appointment follows a series of new hires as Cloud Distribution expands and develops its team which has included James Ball, Technical Manager and Tracey Hannan, Sales Manager for the new Northern office.

-End-

About Cloud Distribution

Cloud Distribution is a value-added distributor of disruptive next-generation networking and security solutions that VARs can take to market quickly and easily. It currently distributes Meraki, Vyatta, PepLink, Talon Storage Solutions, Tanaza and SplashChimp in the UK. Its portfolio of disruptive networking and security solutions helps resellers to differentiate themselves from the competition and create new markets to sell in.

The company was founded in 2009 by senior executives with a wealth of experience in the security, networking and optimisation space. Its philosophy is to take innovative, cutting-edge vendors into the UK market by recruiting and working together with skilled, reputable, market making partners.

For further information please visit www.cloud-distribution.com.

Cloud Distribution accuses rival VADs of being "full" - 21 Jan 2013 - CRN

Cloud Distribution has hired former Expand, Meraki and Exinda director Adam Davison to spearhead the VAD's hunt for more start-up vendors.

Davison (pictured) has been tasked with bringing on four disruptive security and networking vendors over the next year for the distributor, which already works with Vyatta, Peplink and Meraki - a wireless LAN vendor which sold up to Cisco for $1.2bn in November.

Founded in 2009 by Scott Dobson and Greg Harris, Cloud claims it quintupled sales last year and recently hired two other heads, in northern sales manager Tracey Hannan and technical James Ball.

Davison - who has quit his role at Exinda to become Cloud's director of products - accused the UK's established VADs of being "full".

"From a vendor perspective, I think there is a real need for an evangelistic, next-generation, innovative distributor to help them create a market from scratch," he said.

"That's exactly what Cloud is. Take Meraki - we had that product before it had any presence in the UK and evangelised it. I want to recreate that for a number of other vendor start-ups trying to get into the UK."

To support this, Cloud will launch a range of vendor and reseller "launchpacks" designed to seed the market for vendors without any local employees or marketing presence. These will include marketing support, enhanced maintenance packages and site surveys

A "zero-cost" pipeline development platform will also be available, where leads are only paid for at the back end, once a sale has been made.

The last couple of years has seen the emergence of several start-up VADs including virtualisation specialist Prianto and - most recently - comms distributor Pragma and security specialist Heatherside.

Davison said he saw these outfits as a validation of - rather than a threat to - Cloud's strategy.

"There is a real need for a new VAD on the block for networking and security products, or otherwise people wouldn't be looking to do these things," he said.

"I think we are one of the best placed to do that right now because we are established and are already trading with a significant number of MSPs and VARs. The others have to get themselves off the ground before they can go to market aggressively."
Cloud Distribution accuses rival VADs of being "full" - 21 Jan 2013 - CRN UK News

Discover new & disruptive technologies into the UK market - Your invitation to join us.

Cloud Distribution Presents - Our New Disruptive Technology Showcase

Come and join us to see what's coming into 2013 by way of new, innovative and disruptive technologies - Meet the teams and learn more about these exciting solutions to sell into your customer base:

• Vitar          - The Leader in Cloud Hosted Visitor Management

• Peplink      -  Next Generation Internet load balancing & VPN bonding

• Tanaza     -  Cloud Wi-Fi AP Management with Multi-Vendor Support

• Talon         - Deliver & Optimise Microsoft Branch Office Infrastructure 

• Vyatta       -  Next Generation On Demand Routing & Security

Spaces are limited, so sign up early for any of the FREE 2 HOUR events.

Register here:  http://clouddistribution.wufoo.com/forms/cloud-distribution-new-technology-showcase/

Any questions, please feel free to email the team:  info@cloud-distribution.com

Apple’s 802.11ac plans

On Apple’s potential support of 802.11ac in 2013.

TheNextWeb and TechCrunch are reporting that Apple will be adding 802.11ac wireless support to their next generations Macs, using an (as of yet) unspecified Broadcom chipset.

While there were similar rumors last year, 2012 came and went without significant ac support on the client side. This wasn’t surprising – the standard was (and is) evolving1 and 2012 was probably a bit too early for widespread client-side adoption.

However, as we watch client-device chipset support evolve we don’t see the idea of Apple adopting ac in 2013 particularly surprising.

Apple and Broadcom have a extensive history together, with Apple often using Broadcom chipsets in their laptops and devices. The BCM4331 is on the Retina MBP and the 13” MBP that I’m writing this on, for example, and Apple used the BCM4334 in the iPhone 5. Broadcom has already announced a number of products for the mobile market that incorporate 802.11ac, including the BCM4335 integrated WLAN/Bluetooth chip, the BCM4352/4360transceivers, and the BCM43460 for APs2.

The reports reference a new chip rather than one of the above, and that makes sense. The 4335 is targeted the handset market, and the 4352/4360/43640 lines are targeted at access points and would require multiple-chip solutions to support ac and n together. More likely, there’s a BCM4332 in the works that provides b/g/n/ac and 3 spatial streams on one chipset. Given the work that’s already been done, we don’t doubt Broadcom’s ability to deliver this solution in the near future.

Apple also has a history being close to the front in integrated networking technology in their computing products, whether it was (optional) 802.11b in the first iBook in 1999 or 802.11n in the Apple TV in 2007. With Intel’s Haswell architecture tock scheduled for Q2-ish 2013, it’s a good bet that we’ll see a new generation of Apple laptops3 announced around WWDC, just like the latest generation was announced a couple of months after Ivy Bridge was made available in April 2012.

(1) Draft 2.0 wasn’t approved until January 2012.
(2) Although it seems the few announced laptops with built-in ac support may be running some flavor of Broadcom BCM43xxx chipsets.
(3) No, I’m not going to speculate on what else might be included.
Apple’s 802.11ac plans « Meraki Blog

Grupotel Keeps Visitors Coming Back with Peplink

Grupotel Hotels and Resorts, is a favorite place to stay in Barcelona, Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and other Spanish locations and prides itself on delivering a superior visitor experience every single time. 

Poor local communications infrastructure have hampered Grupotel's site-to-site communications, making it more difficult and expensive than necessary to provide a consist first-class service. 

To solve its communications challenges, Grupotel turned to Peplink's Balance series.

• Deployment:
• Balance 580 and 380
• Connected multiple sites by SpeedFusion Bonding Technology
• Winning factors:
• SpeedFusion enables smooth Internet connections where local infrastructure is poor
• Balance routers are easily compatible with existing network infrastructure
• Easy but secure access to internal documents for staff and partners 

Deliver Superior Customer Service with Peplink - to learn more about the Balance 580 and 380 at http://www.peplink.com/newsletter/balance/ or call your Cloud Distribution Account Manager on 01635 800 410 or email us:  info@cloud-distribution.com

Sue Ryder Improves Its Patients’ Experience By Deploying Meraki’s Cloud-Based Wireless LAN | SourceWire

Reading, UK, 29th November 2012- Value Added Distributor, Cloud Distribution, is pleased to announce that through its channel partner, Ecologic, it has deployed 90 MR16 Meraki wireless access points in Sue Ryder facilities all over the UK. Meraki’s cloud-based Wi-Fi solution has provided Sue Ryder with a secure, efficient and robust connection that offers its patients and staff unlimited access to the internet and invaluable contact with the outside world.

Scott Dobson, Managing Director of Cloud Distribution comments:

“Sue Ryder wanted to offer patients wireless internet access whilst undergoing palliative or neurological treatments in its residential care centres and hospices. It also wanted staff and patients to be able to access the wireless network simultaneously, without any risk to secure information or confidential patient records.”

Offering wireless internet access was a central concern for Sue Ryder because the team felt it was important for patients to have outside contact and mobile wireless access; to be able to move around rather than be restrained by a static point. Using Skype and social media channels would allow patients to keep in touch with family and friends Sue Ryder’s solution needed to provide a robust and quick connection- the faster the access the better- to ensure that patients could access the internet as efficiently as possible. It is also essential for the solution to be strong because many of Sue Ryder’s sites are remote and risk dropped connections if the technology is not robust enough. Fin Bavidge, co-founder of Ecologic, comments:

“Meraki’s ease of configuration and management made it a safe and reliable choice for Sue Ryder, as it has these capabilities without compromising on performance. The ability for users to move from site to site without needing to reconfigure the wireless key to access the network was also a strong benefit because many of the charity’s staff transfer between sites which are located all over the UK.”

Initially Sue Ryder purchased 90 Meraki MR 16 access points which are due to be fully deployed by the end of March 2013. It plans to more than double this amount to 200 and is currently working on securing the funds to ensure that every site has wireless access by the end of next year. Sue Ryder is confident that Meraki will help its facilities to sustain staff and patient satisfaction, by providing the former with real-time access to patient records at the bed side and the latter with high quality and reliable internet connectivity. David Ripper, Head of IT at Sue Ryder, concludes:

“Lots of our patients were requesting internet access as it is an invaluable benefit for those that can be with us for days, weeks or even months. Meraki was the right choice for us because patients and staff can access the internet at the same time and it offers the perfect balance between affordability and performance. What sealed the deal was the technology’s security capabilities, ease of use and great value for money.”





Sue Ryder Improves Its Patients’ Experience By Deploying Meraki’s Cloud-Based Wireless LAN | SourceWire