OPAQ Networks Inc.
This Herndon, Va., company aims to help channel pros bring comprehensive, enterprise-grade security to midsize businesses. And we do mean comprehensive. Equipped with intrusion prevention functionality, multiple firewalls, DDoS protection, built-in analytics, centralized management, and more, OPAQ’s solution safeguards everything from data centers and cloud-based applications to mobile devices and Internet of Things gadgets. Since January, moreover, it’s been available exclusively through the company’s channel partners, who have access to steep licensing discounts, a deal registration system, market development funds, and other perks.
Soliton Cyber & Analytics
We wrestled with this one. Should we include Long Beach, Calif.-based Soliton among our latest vendors on the vanguard because it makes an affordably priced network access control solution so easy to use you can install it in under 15 minutes, or because it offers an innovative data and access security system that lets users safely run approved on-site and cloud-based solutions inside containerized virtual workspaces hermetically sealed from other, potentially harmful, processes and systems? In the end we just said “both” and left it at that.
STORAGE/BDR
Altaro Ltd.
Veeam Software’s virtual machine backup solutions have many admirers, and rightly so, but channel pros searching for a simpler, less expensive alternative should take a look at Altaro’s backup products for VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V. Perpetually licensed at $515 per host and up, the Altaro offering includes one year of support and upgrades, and is also available in a multitenant MSP edition priced at $5 per VM per month (with a 10-machine minimum). The system is optimized for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees and comes with inline deduplication, boot-from-backup functionality, and a whole lot more. Altaro says you’ll have it up and running in a fraction of the deployment time more complex systems require.
iDrive Inc.
Headquartered in Calabasas, Calif., iDrive makes a steadily expanding family of BDR products, including direct-to-cloud services for PCs, tablets, and smartphones; a locally installed private cloud backup system; a bare-metal restore appliance; cloud-to-cloud protection for Office 365 mailboxes; and much more. We like the flexibility of its partnering options too. Resellers can earn 25 percent lifetime commissions simply for referring end users to iDrive, or they can buy iDrive licenses in bulk, attach their own brand to them, and price the solution any way they choose.
