Details of the integration, such as whether Intronis will be an independent subsidiary, have not been finalized, but Barracuda says they are committed to have a dedicated MSP business, with Intronis at the core of that.
Brian Babineau, Barracuda’s VP of Product and Channel Marketing
Security vendor Barracuda Networks has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held backup and data protection solution provider Intronis. The transaction is expected to close in October.
The key aspect of the deal for Barracuda is not specifically adding a data protection capacity – it is the adding of a data protection capacity which has been successfully provided by Intronis to a large and loyal pool of MSPs.
“Barracuda already had a backup solution,” said Brian Babineau, Barracuda’s VP of Product and Channel Marketing. “Our strategic rationale is that this lets us get quickly to the MSP market. Intronis has already done all the integration work. Their MSP platform will allow us to bring our security lines to MSPs, and will give customers a broader range of consumption choices. The MSP market is a growing market and having this flexibility is important.”
While Barracuda is a larger company than Intronis, their focus in the past has not been on the MSP market.
“Our primary business model is working with resellers, and we have 5,000 resellers worldwide,” Babineau said. “We have worked with MSPs before, but we weren’t as big on the MSP side of things. Our reseller partners said we should be in that space, however.”
Intronis comes with almost 2,000 MSP partners, and a purpose-built platform that lets MSPs effectively deliver data protection needs to their customers. Their Intronis ECHOplatform is closely integrated with major Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) providers, and provides MSPs with comprehensive reporting, centralized account management, and consolidated billing as well as the services themselves.
“Intronis’ focus on the MSP market and their ability to serve their partners were important here,” Babineau said. “All their MSP partners raved about their support. They already had the technology in place to serve the MSP market. We also have a lot of cultural overlap with them, including a unique and dedicated support model for partners. We don’t do phone trees.”
Intronis said the deal greatly increases their reach.
Neal Bradbury, Intronis’s Co-Founder and VP, Channel Development
“It’s a great opportunity to expand our efforts in the MSP space, to be able to build new products and pile them on,” said Neal Bradbury, Intronis’s Co-Founder and VP, Channel Development. “It will help us considerably with overseas expansion, being able to go into Europe.”
Bradbury also noted the commonality between the two SMB-focused and channel-focused players.
“Barracuda is incredibly channel-focused like us,” he said. “Combining our two channels together is really awesome.”
A key question for Intronis’ MSP partners is the nature of the integration plans, and how Barracuda envisions Intronis operating. Babineau acknowledged that final integration plans had not yet been set, but also indicated that simply absorbing Intronis would nullify some of the value of the acquisition.
“We still have to work through some of the integration items, but our goal is to have a dedicated MSP business with Intronis of the core of that,” he said. “We know it’s a different business from what we have here.”
Bradbury indicated that from the Intronis side, they believe they will remain autonomous in some form.
“We are planning that Intronis will remain intact,” he said.”
Intronis’ top dogs will be moving over to Barracuda.
“Neal started this mission 13 years ago and is here for the long-term,” said Rick Faulk, Intronis’ President and CEO. “I joined 2.5 years ago and it was all about growth then and it’s all about growth now. We’re here for the long term.”
