Opengear (http://www.opengear.com), a leading provider of critical infrastructure management solutions through Smart OOB™ based advanced console servers, remote management, monitoring, failover and cellular out-of-band products, has announced its most impressive year in EMEA with across the board growth.
2014 has seen Opengear continue to enhance its flagship IM7200 series, the industry’s most advanced infrastructure management solution featuring dual fibre ports and high-speed, low latency 4G LTE remote management options, with a host of new features. Opengear has also launched the new CM7100 family of console servers that also benefits from these innovations including an extension of its Smart OOB™ capabilities to monitor critical network and power devices, alerting admins to important events. A key complement to Smart OOB™ is the new Failover to Cellular™ (F2C) feature, which ensures uninterrupted connectivity for remote networks during primary WAN downtime. Opengear’s Smart OOB™ combined with F2C enables companies to monitor, access, manage and automatically remediate their remote networks, from anywhere, to improve operational efficiency and resilience. An industry first!
On the channel side, Opengear has grown its channel partners from under 30 in 2012 to over 75 as of the end of 2014. “The channel is likely to reach about 90 partners by early 2015 and the average deal size has also increased by around 40% in line with growing demand from end-customers,” explains Derek Watkins, Vice President of Sales EMEA & India at Opengear. “The growth is due in part to a wider realignment happening across the IT industry. Even as organisations move applications and staff towards a more centralised cloud and data centre methodology, they still have to support vast amounts of remote network and connectivity infrastructure at branch sites. Out-of-band management, especially over cellular, provides this remote management capability even when the primary network is down without having to dispatch distant IT staff to remote sites.”
In response to growth, Opengear has increased headcount in Europe by over 50% including the recent appointment of a Sales and Marketing Coordinator in the UK and a new Sales Engineer in France. “In early 2015, we are adding a further technical sales resource in Germany and have stepped up our training and engagement with partners,” Watkins adds.
Across the competitive landscape, Watkins notes an increase in vendors within the OOB and console space but points out the lack of depth. “A number of vendors are edging into the space with rather limited portfolios while Opengear has continued to provide a deeper product range offering advanced features, varying price points and port densities that have proven popular in solving a wider set of use cases.”
Watkins also points to adherence to open standards and compatibility with a wider range of third party vendors such as network management tools as a major differentiator, “Openness is a key criteria and this is an area where Opengear leads the way. For customers that recognise the network vendor status quo is changing and our agnostic position fits well, especially with managed service providers who have been a growing customer community for us over the last few years.”
Watkins believes that 2015 will see a lot more LTE/4G accessibility across Europe, “and this we expect to increase demand for our OOB solution with cellular capabilities,” he concludes.
