Integralis has set its sights firmly on BT and other telcos as it unleashes its latest assault on the managed security services (MSS) market.
The firm, which claims it is on target to achieve its $1bn turnover objectives in the next few years, last week rebranded its managed security services to help it gain a larger share of the market (CRN, 10 September).
Last month, Integralis revealed it had poached two vendor heads to help spearhead its managed services push. Neal Lillywhite from Crossbeam and Bruce Jubb from McAfee joined as sales director and business unit director for systems integrators and the public sector, respectively.
Speaking to CRN, Graham Jones, chief operating officer at Integralis, said: “We have had a good six months. We already have budgets coming up for next year and are planning ahead. We are definitely on the right track and have to keep the balance.
“It is all about getting good people on board ­ people with partner experience. Both Neal and Bruce are widely respected in the channel and it is not about scoring points against our rivals.”
Jones said the integrator will continue to focus on three main areas. The first, technology, will see Integralis streamline its vendor portfolio and concentrate on services from a pre- and post-sales and installation point of view (CRN, 20 August).
Secondly, the firm will organise its consultancy offerings on a global basis, enabling customers in any country to access the same set of services.
Finally, on the MSS side, Jones said Integralis is moving away from its “techie heritage” and rebranding on a secure managed standard.
“We are appearing in analysts’ reports as visionaries and one thing is becoming obvious: we have to align our services against the BTs of this world.”
From now on, Integralis will offer three levels of service: Standard, Premium and Enhanced. The offerings will range from simple network monitoring to a combination of services such as checking logs and configuring systems.
“We believe that our base Standard offering beats the likes of BT,” Jones said.
However, Martin Smillie, general manager of global professional services at BT Global Services, said: “MSS is one of four core pillars for BT. The marketplace is vibrant, is growing at a rapid pace and the technology is evolving all the time.
“We focus on everything from small businesses needing turnkey solutions to major outsourcing contracts,” he added.
“We are aware of Integralis and know that MSS is a fairly competitive market. We respect the firm as a player and are happy to have it along for the ride.”
Integralis is also looking to ramp up adoption of its proprietary Integralis Security Information Service (ISIS) and the firm has recently opened a new Security Operations Centre (SOC) in Los Angeles.
The company already has SOCs in Boston and across Europe and is planning to open further offices in the Asia-Pacific region over the next two quarters, Jones revealed.
“We still offer a large range of other vendors’ products, including CheckPoint, Cisco, Juniper, F5 and Infoblox, but now ISIS is up and running we are looking to build on that too,” he said.
“Most of our rivals offer only limited services such as managed anti-virus, but we also provide managed email, web, intrusion prevention, intrusion detection and unified threat management.”
The firm is seeing traction in the legal and accounting sectors, as well as in branch offices and the banking industry, said Jones.
“We believe we have the right brand now and we will just add to it,” he said.
Another focus for Integralis will be on forming partnerships, both directly with end users and with global integrators and smaller telecommunications firms, said Jones.
“We already have a couple of telcos lined up in the UK and several system integrators. With the system integrators we are helping to fill
gaps in their portfolio and helping when their customers request heavier security services than they can provide.”
Darragh Richardson, head of marketing at rival integrator Telindus, said his organisation would consider partnering with Integralis in the future.
“Managed services are growing as a proportion of our overall spend,” said Richardson.
“However, on the flip side there are firms that want to take the services to customers themselves and tailor that to their particular needs. Some end users want it simple and others want to add value to the managed services, which is where white-labelling comes into play.
“Integralis is very specialised in its chosen field and if we were to come up against it in a specific contract, we would certainly consider partnering with it.
“Being successful is about developing a mature business model and not spreading yourself too thinly. Over the years we have learned that partnerships work better when there is mutual benefit rather than mutual contention.
“Firms have to be grown up and accept that the industry is changing and this situation is happening more and more.”
Richardson continued: “We see ourselves as being tailors dealing with customers that want a bespoke suit. We fit the cloth around the customer to their individual requirements and measurements.
“There is no point in us partnering with cheap shoe manufacturers ­ we would want a shoe maker that supplies top-quality Italian leather shoes. That is how we would look at Integralis.”
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