SecureGUARD, the manufacturers of turnkey security and cloud infrastructure products based on Microsoft technologies, has announced that it has extended its distribution channel to Africa through a new agreement with 3DR Holdings.
Effective as of 12 February 2015, the agreement entitles 3DR Holdings, a distributor of energy, lighting, and communications products headquartered in South Africa, rights to distribute SecureGUARD’s OCA, UCB, and CG products in the sub-Saharan African markets.
The partnership fits in with SecureGUARD’s channel strategy and push to expand to new markets outside of Europe. It is a good alignment for 3DR with their recent launch of their MIS business unit with a heavy focus on Microsoft. It will greatly benefit customers and partners in Sub Saharan Africa as 3DR will provide local delivery, service, and support for the SecureGUARD products providing them with increased availability and choice.
“We are glad to have gained 3DR as a partner for the African markets,” says Helmut Otto, managing Director of SecureGUARD, “they have the right combination of distribution expertise and focus on Microsoft technologies that aligns with our business.”
“The African markets are unique and have many different needs that 3DR can help address,” says Dennis Brett, CEO of 3DR Holdings, “Being able to bring Turnkey Microsoft infrastructure products to these markets is a great opportunity for us.”
The OCA and UCB solutions will be available in market at the beginning of April 2015, with CG becoming available later in the year.
* UCB – the Unified Cloud Block platform allows Hosters and MSP’s to get into the cloud business by delivering a converged cloud infrastructure based on the Microsoft Cloud OS that they can deploy faster and for a lower cost than traditional solutions on the market.
* OCA – the Office Cloud Appliance includes Windows Server Essentials or Windows server 2012R2 and enables small businesses to get up and running quickly with their own hybrid cloud solution that lets them to take advantage of cloud services like Microsoft Office 365 without giving up local control or security.
* CG – the Communications Gateway gives IT departments big and small running Microsoft Forefront TMG or ISA products a viable alternative that they can upgrade to that runs on Windows, has an easy upgrade mechanism, and all of the same feature sets and more.
“I’m glad to see turnkey partner solutions built with Windows Server Essentials introduced to the African markets,” says Jason Anderson, principal group program manager at Microsoft for Windows Server Essentials.
“Windows Server Essentials has unique applications for emerging markets.”
