By Lilia Guan
29 August 2008 04:01PM
Tags: techplus | distribution | vmware | virtualisation | lilia | guan

Australian-based IT distributor, Techplus Distribution has added the Catbird product – designed for VMWare environments - to its Australia and New Zealand product portfolio.

Paul Kern, managing director of Techplus Distribution said Catbird's V-Security is one of the industry's first security solutions for VMware.

“The product is an IPS/IDS system for VMWare security platforms and secures virtual machines from each other,” said Kern. “It bridges the security gap in a virtual environment,” he claimed.

According to Kern, the distributor does not distribute VMWare but TechPlus does have products which feature components of VMware and products which run in a VMWare environment.

“Catbird is a US-based company and we went searching on the Web looking for such a company. When we found them we rang them up and got a deal sorted within a month of the initial call,” he said.

According to Kern, Catbird announced its entry into the nascent virtual infrastructure security market with the delivery of the V-Agent – one of the first VMware-certified Virtual Appliance – in July 2007.

Kern believes resellers looking after government departments, banking/finance and defence market will be interested in Catbird’s product. He told CRN, TechPlus was also looking for resellers that are selling VMware currently to give the distributor a call.

“There is an ongoing revenue stream, with margins better than VMware. Resellers will get at least 20 points probably more. The product also has an annual subscription component, with renewals every year,” he said.