Deal: FishNet buys Siegeworks

Another deal was announced yesterday with security reseller FishNet starting the consolidation of the security channel by buying Siegeworks. The release is here. I worked closely with both organizations at my last job and can say they are two of the strongest enterprise security resellers out there.

With Fishnet's stronghold in the midwest (they are HQ'd in Kansas City) and Siegeworks' strong position on the west coast, getting on the good side of the new larger FishNet Security will be a critical success factor for any vendor wanting to crack the enterprise security market.

Of course the trade press ignored the story because they are far more focused on widgets. Not even CRN covered it. They totally missed the boat. Why? This is a precursor of things to come.

Another data point is Calence (an AZ based reseller strong in networking and security) acquiring the networking and security resale business of Avnet. This trend will result in a rather significant bifurcation in the security channel. There will be the haves and the have-nots. The haves will be $150-200 million dollar companies and the have-nots will remain two guys and a phone.

The haves will be able to dictate favorable margins and preferential access to new and exciting products. The have-nots, well... not so much. The haves will begin to assemble "solutions" integrating multiple products to solve significant problems. The channel has always been called "solution providers," but in reality they've been nothing more than box pushers. As they get bigger, they cannot possibly push enough boxes to make the model work, so integration, services and solutions are the future for these folks. And the have-nots will sell a bunch of AV and $300 firewalls to the SMB market.

Whether the vendors get it right or the channel assembles it, enterprises have no interest in continuing to integrate disparate solutions with bailing wire and duct tape. Vendors, this is a wake-up call; act big or your reseller will do it for you.