FUTURE TECHNOLOGY to ensure our data centre presence is available across 25 locations ,” says Wissam Saadeddine , Co-Founder of Secure Domains .
Data residency
According to Saadeddine , Secure Domains has the regional experience to understand the customers ’ needs in this region for them to be successful . In addition the product platform has been born within the region , which means the platform ’ s data logging and control plane are in-country . Whichever country Secure Domains operates in , they will replicate the cloud platform in that country .
“ We will be able to replicate the entire cloud within that country , which is really unique to our cloud versus any other cloud that we have today ,” says Saadeddine .
He points out that for other cloud platforms , delivering SaaS , IaaS or PaaS , “ You will find that the control plane or the logging plane are central somewhere else , which defeats the purpose of data sovereignty .” To ensure compliance with data sovereignty , each in-country installation will have its own logging plane , and its own dedicated service plane . A distributed logging and service plane , makes the Secure Domain product modular and gives them a competitive advantage , especially from the perspective of compliance and adherence .
Rise of MSPs
In the region , enterprises IT users want to consume everything as a service . Channel partners are adapting to their customers ’
behaviour . This is driving the transformation of partners and the emergence of Managed Service Providers .
“ We have seen how partners and the channel have started to evolve over the past few years based on customer needs . If you ask me , any channel partner we are talking to today , they are interested in becoming a Managed Service Provider , or they are already a Managed Service Provider ,” says Saadeddine .
“ Customers want to Netflix everything . They want to consume , security , infrastructure , storage , everything as a service . And accordingly , the partners have started to evolve with them to become MSPs ,” adds Saadeddine .
Secure Domains has made the architecture of its product to be Managed Service Provider friendly and Managed Service Provider ready . Managed Service Provider partners can leverage its multi tenancy architecture as their platform from day one . Using the Secure Domains multi tenancy architecture they can onboard as many of their customers as they want .
Or they can use their single-tenancy architecture , white label the services and accordingly onboard their customers as well . Secure Domain is using a utility model , pay as you go consumption model , which makes its usage-friendly for channel partners to adopt , sell and scale with .
Two-tier distribution
Secure Domains plans to scale its operations in two phases . In the first phase it is focussing on UAE and Saudi Arabia and adjacent GCC countries . In the second phase it will scale to rest of Middle East and North Africa using its onboarded MSP , tier-one and tier-two channel partners . “ Moving to the MENA region will require MSPs and the channel to help us scale in that region ,” says Saadeddine .
Secure Domains plans to develop a two-tier distribution model including distributors , channel partners , and MSPs . Saadeddine points out that its Managed Service Provider programme will be
To ensure compliance with data sovereignty , each in-country installation will have its own logging plane , and its own dedicated service plane .
different from the standard channel programme . MSPs will follow a pay as you go model , while the two-tier distribution model will follow a resale model .
“ For us to be able to grow in the short term and for us to scale in the long term , we believe that we cannot scale without partners and the channel ,” he says .
Despite overcrowding of cybersecurity vendor partners with cybersecurity specialised value added distributors , Saadeddine believes their cyber security start-up has value to offer to both tiers of distribution . “ What makes any channel partner programme successful is relevancy to the market , to partners , and a unique value proposition .”
Secure Domains believes a two tier distribution model is the correct go to market for its ambitions because of geo complexity . Regional distributors and incountry distributors are essential for Secure Domains since it has ambitions to offer DNS Armor with a control plane and service plane in all countries .
As a vendor and as a startup it is essential to exist in all country markets and this is not possible without having the support of a tier-one distributor , to be able to scale . “ That is why in our region , the two tier distribution layer still exists and is still needed due to the geographical complexity ,” summarises Saadeddine . •
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