EiQ Networks, which built its business in the large enterprise and U.S. federal government space, has added a SaaS SMB focused component to it, and is opening a SOC in Vancouver to support this managed security service.
Bruce McDonald, EiQ Networks’ Vice President of Global Services
Boston-based EiQ Networks, has announced the opening of an office in Vancouver to support its SOCVue managed security service, the SMB-focused SaaS offering the company recently added to its offerings.
“EiQ, which was founded in 2001 by two brothers, was initially focused on large enterprises and U.S. federal government business,” “We still have that business, but are now making this exciting pivot into SMB. Adding this hybrid SaaS offering, addressing SIEM with some services on top of it for a compelling SMB solution, is simply brilliant.”
This offering, SOCVue, provides proactive security controls automation and compliance reporting as well as managed log management and SIEM. The new SOC will improve support. McDonald has been hiring staff, taking his pick from the large number of qualified technical people in the Vancouver area.
“We place a strong emphasis on people, and I’m building a North American team of security technical experts that own our customer base, backed by our processes and 24/7 SOC capability, and our industry proven technology, which has the ability to scale,” he stated. “The SOC staff here are not engaged in a typical technical support role. It’s much more proactive, taking security seriously, which also makes it a more interesting place to work.”
The Vancouver office is primarily the SOC operations, although there will be a small sales and marketing team for the west coast, complementing the Boston main office where most of the sales and marketing takes place.
The choice of Vancouver for the SOC was dictated by the most practical of considerations – it’s where McDonald lives! Previously, for almost eight years he ran Sophos’ support services, which were based in Vancouver for the same reason.
EiQ’s go-to-market model for the SOCVue service is primarily direct, but it does have a channel component.
“We do partner with MSSPs and some MSPs, and plan to scale and build out the channel more over the next three to five years,” McDonald said. “Right now, our channel business is about eight per cent. We are definitely looking to grow that, but it still wouldn’t likely exceed 15 per cent in terms of our expectations.”
