Security specialist SecureData Africa has formally absorbed the value-added distributor (VAD) business of Magix Security into its operations.
The Magix Security VAD team, comprising pre-sales, sales, and technical support functions has already transitioned into SecureData Africa and will continue to provide its customer base with all relevant services and solutions.
“While the VAD portion of our company is profitable and has a strong, blue chip customer base, we are not true distributors and lack the sales reach and channel partners to do real justice to our product set,” says Chris Hills, chairman of Magix Security, “SecureData has exactly that business model and has an extensive network of channel partners. The prospects for our people and our products are greatly enhanced under the SecureData umbrella.
“This arrangement has been structured in such a way that we share in the success of the business over a three year period so we will work closely with SecureData to realise its real potential,” he says. “In addition, both parties see great opportunities for collaboration between the broader SecureData group and our remaining Cybercrime division so we view this as the start of a long and mutually beneficial relationship with SecureData.
“Under its new management, SecureData has a very clear vision for the future and we look forward to helping that vision come to fruition,” Hills adds. “Our Cybercrime division has been very successful of late and has major projects with some of the largest financial institutions in the country. We have taken a strategic business decision to further develop and invest in these expert consultation and specialised services, which assist a wide variety of local companies manage their IT risk and security postures.”
Magix Security will continue to focus its Cybercrime division on three key areas of increasing risk in South Africa: fraud, money laundering, and cybercrime. Its services include user, data and infrastructure monitoring and security posture assessments as specialised solutions for the anti-fraud and anti-money laundering arenas.
“SecureData is extremely excited about this transaction,” says Wayne Olsen, CTO of SecureData Africa. “We have been looking at increasing our product offering to our channel partners and the Magix suite of VAD products plugs a number of holes in our portfolio. Not only have we taken over a number of new technologies, but we have also brought on board a number of very highly skilled people who are familiar with not only selling the product suite, but also supporting it from a post and pre-sales point of view.
“The most important thing for us is that there is no loss of business continuity for any of the existing users of the Magix products,” Olsen adds.