TMCnet News
New partner in South Africa: gateprotect concludes distribution agreement with Comztek and expands into the African Market(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Hamburg and Johannesburg -- The German IT security specialist gateprotect is continuing the strategic enhancement of its international network of partners with the appointment of value added distributor Comztek in the African region. The agreement, effective since January 2013, addresses the African growth regions and is another step for gateprotect's expansion of its sales network and alignment with top distributors. Paul Conradie, Managing Director Comztek: "This partnership offers great advantages for both companies and addresses the dynamic growth market of IT security. Comztek has an extensive network of experienced resellers, and the goal of this new partnership will see us rapidly support and promote the introduction of gateprotect solutions in to the African market." The African continent and, in particular, the Cape region in South Africa, provides excellent opportunities to companies who provide solutions in the areas of information technology, telecommunications and especially IT security. The agreement will bring the technological know-how, a working local sales team as well as a service network to the region, in a bid to take advantage of the potential the market provides. "Companies and government institutions throughout Southern Africa are closely investigating the deployment of security technologies within their organisations and to that end there are a number of public and private projects that are currently being planned. At the same time, we are also seeing an increasing demand for consulting expertise in the security arena," adds Paul Conradie, Managing Director Comztek. During the past years, gateprotect has expanded and strategically adjusted its partner structure, particularly in the growing and emerging markets of Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the African continent. "The complexity of IT security systems continues to grow in order to ensure that businesses can adequately protect themselves from outside threats. The next generation firewalls from gateprotect with their unique eGUI technology, are to this end, a perfect fit for a developing African market," says Dr. Peter Smeets, CEO of gateprotect AG Germany. "The African market is ripe for the picking and we believe that with our focus on IT security and our partnership with Comztek and its extensive reseller network we are now in an ideal position to be able to grow our business in the region." At the end of 2012, gateprotect was able to look back at what was one of the most successful business years in the company's history. Milestones included a variety of new national and international partnerships, the development and successful introduction of the gateprotect security audit, the upgrade of the next generation UTM firewall to Version 9.2 with Application Control and, most recently, the new hardware model range of the GPZ series. Since 2010, gateprotect has been listed in Gartner's "Magic Quadrant" for UTM (Unified Threat Management) Firewalls and was awarded the Frost & Sullivan "Excellence Award" in 2011. Download this press release under: http://www.gateprotect.com About Comztek Established in 1995, Comztek is a leading distributor of high-value, high-demand, consumer and business technology products and solutions throughout South Africa and the African continent. The company's geographical footprint extends 26 countries, with its head office in Johannesburg and regional offices in KwaZulu-Natal, the Cape, Namibia, Mauritius, Zambia and an East African office in Kenya. Today Comztek partners with leading vendors across five technology silos, namely: Collaboration, Communications, Consumer, Services and Software, for enterprise, small to medium, as well as SOHO business and consumer customers. Outside of a team of highly skilled technical, sales, and channel experts, the company offers its resellers support by way of the Comztek Technical Service Support (TSS), SLAs, the Comztek Skills Service Agreement SSAs and a 24-hour support line through a toll-free number. At Comztek Comztek Michelle Chettoa +27 11 848 9512 [email protected] On behalf of Comztek Anti-Clockwise Charlene Carroll +27 11 314 2533/4/5 [email protected] About gateprotect gateprotect AG Germany has been a leading, globally acting provider of IT security solutions in the area of network security for ten years. These solutions comprise next generation firewalls with all commonly used UTM functionalities, Managed Security as well as VPN client systems. To minimize the risk of operator errors in highly complex security functions, gateprotect has developed the eGUI interface concept. The patented eGUI technology (ergonomic Graphic User Interface) and the Command Center based thereon for the configuration and administration of firewall systems for managed security service providers (MSSPs) increase the factual security in companies and companies and allow for an efficient ongoing maintenance of the systems. Reputable companies and institutions in more than 80 countries are among the users of about 23,000 installed licenses worldwide. Since 2010, gateprotect has been listed in the renowned Gartner "Magic Quadrant" for UTM firewall appliances in the SMB market and is currently going through the "Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL 4+)" - a certification procedure at the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). For the easy handling and comprehensive security of the UTM firewall solutions, gateprotect was the first German company to be awarded the Frost & Sullivan Excellence Award. SCHULTZEPLUS Thomas Schultze, Dagmar Schulz Amsinckstr. 70 D-20097 Hamburg Phone: +49 (0) 40 231 66754 Fax: +49 (0) 40 23166756 Email: [email protected] Internet www.schultzeplus.de gateprotect Aktiengesellschaft Germany Anika Ohlsen - Marketing Communications Manager Valentinskamp 24 D-20354 Hamburg Phone: +49 (0) 40 278 85 0 Fax: +49 (0) 40 278 85 105 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.gateprotect.de ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected])). (c) 2013 M2 COMMUNICATIONS |