Alcatel-Lucent is ramping up its two-tier channel business in the UK after unveiling its first two standalone security products.

The UK has become the first of the communications vendor’s EMEA country operations to establish a dedicated security practice, under the direction of new vice president of enterprise for the UK and Ireland, David Parker.

The unit employs four staff and will focus on two new products ­ the Web Services Gateway and the Nonstop Laptop Guardian.

“It was my own decision to build a security practice,” Parker told CRN.
“The Bell Labs brand has been in the wings for too long. It has a resonance in the UK that we can ride on the back of.”

Parker said sole UK distributor Sphinx will help push the security products to both new and existing partners.
Just 10 to 15 per cent of Alcatel-Lucent’s UK revenues are generated by partners that buy through distribution. Parker said he hoped this would rise to 15 to 20 per cent by the end of the year.

“Bringing in disparate security products opens up more opportunities for distribution to sell to indirect resellers. Sphinx can cover far more bases that we could in SME,” Parker explained.

Peter Tankard, managing director of Alcatel-Lucent reseller Integrated Business Systems, said it will be a year before he looks at the new products.

“We are still learning about MyTeamwork and the products Alcatel-Lucent released last year. The time-lapse between it releasing a product and us being able to support customers is up to a year,” he said.