INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS & ACQUISITIONS
Westcon-Comstor enters Balkans market with acquisition of specialist distributor REAL Security
Westcon-Comstor, a global technology distributor specialising in cybersecurity, networking and hybrid cloud solutions, has announced it has expanded its geographic footprint and established a strategic foothold in the Balkans by acquiring value-added cybersecurity distributor REAL Security.
Founded in Maribor, Slovenia in 2002 and operating in eight countries across the Balkans, REAL Security has built a market-leading position through its technical expertise, industry knowledge and track record of success in the region’ s buoyant cybersecurity landscape.
Known for its strong relationships, it connects major and emerging cybersecurity vendors with value-added resellers, managed service providers and managed security service providers in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia.
REAL Security has earned a reputation for innovation through its commitment to harnessing emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain to develop next generation security solutions. It also runs the region’ s annual cybersecurity event, the RISK conference.
“ This acquisition strengthens our ability to support partners across the full breadth of the European cybersecurity landscape,
David Grant, CEO at Westcon-Comstor
while ensuring we remain at the forefront of innovation, enablement and partner success,” said David Grant, CEO at Westcon-Comstor.“ REAL Security’ s trusted relationships and consistent execution make it an outstanding strategic fit. We look forward to building on our shared values, culture and ambition as we accelerate growth and create new opportunities across the region.”
Cloudflare strengthens content offering to AI companies with acquisition of Human Native
Cloudflare, a leading connectivity cloud company, has announced it has acquired Human Native, an AI data marketplace that connects creators and AI developers.
The acquisition will make it easier and faster for AI developers to discover and access the content they need, and in turn help creators and publishers optimise how their data can be surfaced to AI companies willing to pay.
With the expertise from the Human Native team, Cloudflare will accelerate the build out of its vision for the AIdriven Internet economy, empowering creators to turn their existing content into indexable, valuable data as well as to effectively price and monetise it.
Founded in 2024, Human Native built its mission around fostering a more equitable and transparent relationship between content creators and AI companies.
The team brings deep expertise from across the technology and media sectors, which will help Cloudflare deliver tools that enable creators to structure their content for fair, simple and streamlined AI consumption. Dr James Smith, Co-founder and CEO, Human Native, said:“ We believe that creators should have control, compensation and credit when their work is used to power AI products, ensuring equitable compensation for rights holders while enabling responsible AI development. Our discussions with Cloudflare, from Matthew Prince( co-founder and CEO) to the entire team, have shown us that our values could not be more aligned. We believe in the same mission and together we will have the opportunity to deliver solutions at Internet scale.” •
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