Distributor Wick Hill has a new division called Wick Hill Select, which aims to provide market entry and growth support for high growth vendors looking to establish a presence in, or rapidly expand in Europe. This is not a branding exercise, but formalises a process which has already been taking place as Wick Hill looks to add vendors and expand geographically. The distributor raised new funding for this earlier in the year.
The first new Select vendor is open-source US-based security business Black Duck Software. Wick Hill has been appointed in the UK and DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). Black Duck supplies tools which scan code in open source projects and identifies its licensing, state of security and vulnerabilities. This is a rapidly growing business, says Kevin Bland, Black Duck's EMEA director of channels and alliances, with open-source code used in as much of 99% of major enterprise projects. “The barriers to our growth are simply the requirement to amplify the message to customers." He expects of mix of channels, including larger consultancies and mid-sized resellers, especially those specialising in security, backed with seminars, education and deliverables.
There has been an acceleration in the use of open-source code in projects, and much has become mission-critical in enterprises who are looking for ways to keep code secure and valid. This is still a fairly specialist area, however, and he expects to add no more than 25-30 partners in EMEA, looking to Wick Hill for coverage of the market since the target countries are primarily the UK and German region.
Wick Hill has offices in the UK and DACH region, but that international capability is planned to grow rapidly across EMEA, enabling it to offer vendors a full EMEA-wide solution soon, it seems.
The Select model works well for Black Duck, says Ian Kilpatrick, chairman Wick Hill Group, with its aggressive growth plan: “Companies today are often unaware of whether they’re using open source code or the extent to which they are using it. That leaves them open to security attacks, compliance issues, and legal action, from not acknowledging the use of someone else’s code. Heartbleed, ShellShock and other major security bugs attacked through open source vulnerabilities, so it’s a crucial issue.” He says that Wick Hill can resource the Select vendor as much as is required for high growth.
In July 2015, Rigby Private Equity, the private equity arm of Rigby Group Investments, made a significant investment in Wick Hill. This deal gave the distributor the opportunity to pursue further expansion and the establishment of Wick Hill Select is part of that EMEA expansion plan. But there is a priority on the depth of provision being the same high standard in each country, Ian Kilpatrick says, unlike some broadline distributors who are often of poor quality on the ground in some parts of Europe, he suggests.
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