A new distribution agreement will make NCP’s SMB VPN solutions available to Tech Data resellers in both the U.S. and Canada.

Patrick Oliver Graf, CEO of NCP engineering

German remote access vendor NCP engineering has announced a new distribution agreement with Tech Data, which will cover both the United States and Canada, and be managed through Tech Data’s Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) division.

NCP was founded in 1986, and has always made remote access solutions, which were originally hardware, and are now software-only VPN solutions. The company’s main office is in Nuremburg, Germany. They also have a large American office in Mountain View CA, and have just established an office in Clearwater, Florida, Tech Data’s headquarters, to assist the new relationship. All NCP product is actually made in Germany, not in cheaper production cost global markets.

While NCP’s IPsec VPN solution consists of a Secure Entry client, a gateway and a management solution, the real key is the client, which works with all leading VPN gateways and firewalls, and is a key selling feature.

“It’s a universal client which will connect with all the major vendors, which means that customers don’t need to replace their existing environments,” said Patrick Oliver Graf, CEO of NCP engineering. “We let them leverage their investment, and just make their client smarter. This is a very strong feature with prospects, and as we dive deeper, there are functions and features that differentiate the management of the client environment that are very powerful.”

NCP makes VPN solutions for both the enterprise and SMBs, but the Tech Data deal will cover only the SMB part of their portfolio, at least for now.

“We considered whether to go to the Tech Data enterprise team, or SMB only,” Graf said. “We decided that since SMB product sold much faster compared to an enterprise solution, which is always project based, that going SMB would let Tech Data see revenue success very quickly, which is an important objective.”

Graf said they will likely consider making their enterprise products available through Tech Data later on.

“We want to start a relationship and get used to each other first,” he said. “Our products are very unique. We want to make revenue first and let the relationship grow.”

The Tech Data relationship will replace one that NCP had with SYNNEX, which is still in existence but which is being phased out. A key issue was that SYNNEX, unlike Tech Data, does not carry Cisco.

“We felt that SYNNEX doesn’t have a product line which complements NCP solutions well,” Graf said. “We consider that our compatibility with Cisco is a major basis to sell our solution, and Tech Data carries them.” While Ingram Micro also carries Cisco, Graf said that they concluded that Tech Data was the better fit of those two.

Graf said that NCP has about 150 active resellers in North America today, and that while sheer quantity of numbers is not that important to them, they are looking to extend that number through Tech Data. Ideally, they will get partners looking for a reciprocal commitment from them.

Graf also indicated that they are looking to increase their Canadian business significantly.

“The Canadian business under SYNNEX was not what we were expecting, and we would very much like to extend that business as well,” he said.