Imei partners with ASV Platforms to bring Aryaka SASE-as-a-Service to ANZ market

Partnership answers customer calls for simpler, more secure network services with lower upfront costs and safe GenAI.

Imei has partnered with ASV Platforms, the strategic partner for Aryaka, to offer its SASE-as-a-Service across Australia and New Zealand.

Angelo Lo Certo, head of marketing and professional services with imei, told CRN Australia the company is always looking for new technologies to complement its mobile and network managed services offerings for government organisations and enterprises.

“Aryaka and ASV have presented imei with an excellent opportunity at just the right time,” he said.

With many customers are trying to manage cybersecurity risk while controlling costs, this arrangement offers a subscription-based network service with built-in security features.

“We found that the Aryaka product offering gives the company a great way to satisfy both those needs,” he said.

Imei is finding customers are struggling with similar challenges, such as needing a network refresh but not having the capital budget, dealing with multiple technology vendors trying to ‘own the stack’ and juggling multiple interfaces across network and security.

“Vendor consolidation has been referenced in many customer meetings, as IT budgets come under scrutiny and vendors compete for attention and budget dollars,” he said.

The AI-powered platform offers several different components designed to enable AI for customers. These include optimising network performance for AI use, inspecting network traffic and flagging threats and providing a safe haven for secure generative AI adoption.

Lo Certo pointed to ease of integration and deployment, reduced costs, no capital expense, a full SASE security stack and ease of operation as the major selling points. These are particularly important given many IT teams are stretched and, in some cases, being downsized.

“Customers do not need to choose, or cherry pick – they get all of those,” he said.

Imei and ASV plan to make the partnership productive quickly and to understand how customers engage with the platform in Australia and NZ.

Down the track, it may look at additional features and functionality to build into both the Aryaka platform and imei’s services solution stack.

We want to introduce Aryaka to imei customers and transform how our customers can be more productive, secure and lower their costs, Lo Certo said.

A partner-first approach with a view to the long-term

Established in 2000, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth, imei currently provides managed network services, both passive and proactive, across a number of common network technology vendors and in partnership with Telstra.

As part of this arrangement, a local Australian 24/7 365 service desk will be available powered by imei. The partnership is part of imei’s goal to broaden its security service offerings to our customers.

“Our enhanced-security managed services already cover mobile devices via lifecycle management, IoT devices via a centralised management platform and now also secure networks-as-a-service with in-built SASE stack,” Lo Certo told CRN Australia.

With more than 200 large business and government customers and an NPS above +80 for more than a decade, Lo Certo said capability, competence and customer service are key to imei’s edge.

“We are a services organisation, we work hard to make sure the customer’s requirements are exceeded, and our customer satisfaction scores reflect that,” he said.

“It’s one of the key reasons ASV chose imei to partner with, alongside our technical capabilities,” he ended.