ALTHOUGH networking vendor Aventail is not setting up shop in New Zealand as it has done in Australia, it is scouting for a distributor.
The company’s newly appointed Australia and New Zealand sales manager, Andrew Draper, says talks are in the final stages with a number of local distributors to take on Aventail’s range of SSL (secure sockets layer) VPN software and hardware products.
The Seattle-based company has been represented in Australia and New Zealand since 1997 by Australian integrator Kanbay, but as Aventail’s business grew in the region, local management became necessary, says Draper.
“The market is developing; the company has a stated goal to grow our market share and reve-nues beyond what the market is growing at. To do that you need to invest in resources to be able to build the business at a greater rate than everybody else,” he says.
“We recognise Australia and New Zealand as key markets and it was time to invest in people here to build the business more.”
Additional growth will be generated through reseller partners, with whom Draper is responsible for fostering partnerships.
Datacom is already a long-standing New Zealand partner, but Draper aims to recruit more and last month took on Network Pro.
Draper, previously regional sales director for Fortinet, says Aventail’s two-tier channel structure is among the best he has seen.
