CRN Interview: Carousel Industries Executive On Why Cisco Security Is An 'Enormous' Opportunity For The Channel

Top Cisco Partner On Security Opportunity

Cisco Systems is cutting through the security market clutter and bringing an "enormous" opportunity to solution providers that realize simply selling technology isn't good enough, says a top executive at a solution provider climbing swiftly through the ranks of Cisco's partner program.

"In the security world, it's not good enough that we just sell [customers] technology," said Josh King, director of security solutions at Exeter, R.I.-based Cisco partner Carousel. "They can buy boxes from anybody, but it doesn't do you any good if they invest in it and it just sits in their data center."

Carousel recently was recognized with Cisco's Master Security Specialization, giving the elite solution provider a brand awareness boost, as well as concrete validation of its security capabilities. "This brings Carousel to the forefront and says we have the expertise, but not just that, we have the stamp of approval from Cisco that says we're in the top echelon," King said.

Only about 30 solution providers have earned Cisco's Master Security Specialization, King said.

What follows is an edited excerpt of King's conversation with CRN.

What does the Cisco Master Security designation allow you to do that you couldn't do before?

A lot of it is brand recognition, and expertise and capabilities recognition. We were providing a lot of the services and working with a lot of the technologies that Cisco is bringing to market in the security space. This brings Carousel to the forefront and says we have the expertise, but not just that, we have that stamp of approval from Cisco that says we're in that top echelon.

How big is the opportunity with Cisco in security?

The opportunity is enormous. From a security perspective, there are thousands of vendors; it's very cluttered. Customers are confused. These are complex situations [for customers] to get their arms around. At the same time, every day is some new ransomware outbreak or breach. Cisco has made key acquisitions, they're coming to market with a lot of great solutions.

Every vendor wants to be a security vendor. How can you help customers really connect with Cisco?

There are thousands of vendors out there. Which vendors do you go with? This definitely helps us connect with customers. In the security world, it's not good enough that we just sell them technology. They can buy boxes from anybody, but it doesn't do you any good if they invest in it and it just sits in their data center. That's where the Master designation comes in: If you're investing in the technology, make sure you're leveraging a partner that can actually get that return on investment and keep the bad stuff out.

As a solution provider how do you differentiate Cisco from other vendors?

Because there are so many vendors out there, and some of them are point solution vendors, and what's the average vendor per enterprise these days? It's like 30. Cisco can check off more than one box. They're in the next-gen firewall space, they're in the endpoint space, they're in the email security space and so on. Being able to solve more than one piece of the puzzle is great. Now, I need three less vendors if I can have them do those three things.

Does that thinking apply to the whole Cisco portfolio? Do you see solid cross-sell opportunities through security and hardware?

They're very much about the architecture. They want their products to talk to each other, to share information with each other. Each time you buy a new product, it hooks into that entire portfolio, and you get more value out of everything. Their threat team is what makes any security organization worth their weight. How much traffic do they see, how much bad stuff do they see? That all translates to how much bad stuff I can keep out of my customer's network. That's really where the threat teams fall into place. We do the infrastructure side, we do the data center, the collaboration and security. That's the value-add of Cisco. On the security side, it's not just about the security technology. They're really building their infrastructure and their security tools to really hook into each other. If a customer does invest and gets the whole portfolio, they really getting a much better product at the end of the day.

How good is the revenue opportunity with Cisco security?

Cisco puts us in a really good position from a financial standpoint. It's not just a point sell. I have the ability to solve multiple problems with multiple solutions, and by the way, they're heavy on the infrastructure side, as well, so routers, switches, wireless. My ability to sell across the stack means I can sell deep and wide in a customer's environment and I can do more than one project. If I'm looking at a target customer base, they need someone, but not just on firewall. They need help with firewall, email, endpoint, patching, the whole puzzle. That means we do more for the customer and we can be more sticky and valuable to them and they keep coming back.