Security vendor Barracuda Networks has expanded its existing distribution deal with Ingram Micro in the U.S. to Canada, adding a second distributor to its network.

The two companies have been working together Stateside since earlier this year, with previous deals also in place in various EMEA and APAC markets. 

Jason Beal, vice president of worldwide partner ecosystems at Barracuda, said Ingram was a good fit for the company because of the scale of its credit capacity and product availability and the depth of services, enablement, and support Ingram provides around cybersecurity.

“They have a global centre of excellence, and great leadership around [security], and they’re helping partners who want to uplevel from IT security resale practices to cybersecurity managed services practices,” Beal said of Ingram. “They bring a great mix of enablement and enthusiasm.”

Beal added that inking another distribution deal in Canada — Barracuda also works with TD SYnnex in Canada — supports its “partner choice model” and helps make things a little easier for the company’s partners.

“Partners always want the ease of doing business; they just have so much on their place with the bad guys on one side and the good guys on the other,” he said. “Our job is to make sure we’re engaging across the Canadian organization. It’s on us to win the hearts and minds [of Ingram’s associates.]”

Alistair Edmondson, director of advances solutions for Ingram Micro Canada, said the distributor has seen “tremendous growth” in the cybersecurity space over the last few years, owing both to market trends and the distributor’s investments in the space. The distributor’s headcount of resources dedicated to security has grown substantially over that time.

Edmondson praised Barracuda’s offerings as “easy to buy and deploy,” particularly as the distributor works to onboard partners new to the security vendor.

“That will resonate pretty well with partners in Canada,” Edmondson said.

As with most distribution deals for familiar brands like Barracuda, expanding to Ingram is a combination of an opportunity to provide choice to its existing base and to find new partners. With the growing focus on the depth of security services and cloud-based offerings, Beal said many solution providers are looking to go deeper, moving from traditional endpoint businesses to professional and managed services. That’s happening partly because customers are both looking for more depth and struggling to attract and retain staff with security skills.

He said the company highly values “partner agility or hybridity” in the sense of meeting their buyers where they are in terms of how they want to procure and consume security services.

“Anything we can do to put our partners in a better position to defend their customers while reducing their cost to operate is a great value proposition for us,” Beal said.

Beal also expressed enthusiasm for the distributor’s Xvantage digital platform, allowing the vendor to gain experience in other markets worldwide. In particular, Beal said, the platform is “quite sophisticated” in its ability to use business intelligence to match Barracuda with new partners who are a good fit.

“We have a great ecosystem of partners between professional services, managed services, and marketplaces, but we’re continuing to grow and diversify that ecosystem,” Beal said.