Node4 extends partnership with Trend Micro to manage hybrid cloud security

Typically, organisations deploy a variety of cloud services (such as N4Cloud, VMWare, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft® Azure) using a combination of both public and private hosting, which results in multiple disparate technologies to secure. By incorporating Trend Micro’s hybrid cloud protection alongside its own managed SECaaS Node4 is solving this problem and helping business without the resources to protect multiple cloud environments themselves to outsource the problem, and in doing so, achieve the ultimate defence against evolving threats.

“UK enterprises can now benefit from end-to-end security services which span across the Node4 proposition, from consultancy, hosting, to fully managed services and support. This means that organisations can stop new threats faster, and know data is protected in physical, virtualised and cloud environments. It also takes the pressure off resources with information held in impressive state-of-the-art data centre facilities that ensure even the most mission critical applications are hosted securely and fully protected. N4Cloud Security allows enterprises to consume security as a service no matter what stage an enterprise is in their IT transformation,” said James Munroe, Head of Channel Sales UK at Trend Micro.

“Many businesses don’t have the skill sets to manage the variety of technologies and cloud services they have, let alone the security requirements they require. Our managed services can take these strains away,” commented John Williams, Product Manager at Node4. “It was an obvious decision to partner with Trend Micro following the release of its new suite of security services for hybrid environments. Security is a key pillar for Node4 and this partnership allows us to further strengthen our portfolio for our customers and deliver the ultimate defence against today’s evolving cyberattacks while simultaneously freeing up resources.” 

Node4 has also announced a new and improved Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platform. The new offering is being built on a shared architecture which means Node4 channel partners can offer clients both a customer dedicated platform and a multi-tenant one, allowing much smaller organisations to affordably access top-tier collaboration tools.

Mark Phelps, Collaboration Product Manager, said: “It’s a really exciting time for Node4 and its customers and partners. We have seen fantastic take up of our recently launched Collaboration platform, with thousands of users already benefitting from our Collaboration Experiences. The development of a shared architecture solution will enable partners to provide clients of every size the benefits of our Cisco Powered enterprise class collaboration experience. This is only the first in a number of major product portfolio enhancements Node4 is going to announce across the coming months, intended to help businesses supercharge their collaborative abilities.”

This new shared architecture will allow Node4 and its partners to service smaller customers, and makes Node4 one of the few Cisco HCS providers that can deliver to SMEs.

Channel partners can now bring the Cisco Enterprise Class experience, delivered in the cloud, to customers with as few as 30 seats. Normally, customers of this size would be forced to compromise on the technology choice, or would be forced to purchase on-premise or managed services, rather than a fully hosted, CMSP certified, Cisco Powered service. However Node4 partners can now build a shared architecture instance that can be dedicated to a single partner. This shared architecture instance can then be used to service a number of a partner’s end customers through a single set of applications, providing simplicity, scalability and more direct customer control to every channel partner.

Richard Buxton, Head of Collaboration at Node4 commented: “UC and collaboration are key pillars for Node4. We’re focused on providing our customers with state-of-the-art technology to help them keep up with the rapidly evolving workplace of the future. We want to help small and medium businesses to be part of the future of work revolution, and our improved solutions will do just that.”

Andrew Wilson, Channel Sales Director at Node4 added: “As with all our partner solutions, this release is underpinned by our well-received ‘Recruit, Enable, Grow’ channel methodology. This gives our partners the best of both worlds; our top right Gartner Magic Quadrant technology and the right support and people to help partners position the solution with their customers.”