Sophos Coming To Pax8 Marketplace ‘A Natural Fit’ For MSPs: Exclusive

‘By offering everything under one roof, MSPs can significantly reduce their daily security management tasks, ultimately allowing them to focus on growing their business,’ says Scott Barlow, VP of global MSP and cloud alliances at Sophos.

Cybersecurity vendor Sophos has announced a strategic partnership with cloud marketplace Pax8 to simplify cybersecurity for MSPs, giving Pax8 partners access to the full range of Sophos security products including endpoint protection, firewalls and cloud security services.

“A lot of our MSPs have requested this, and the synergy between our go-to-market strategies and Pax8’s marketplace made it a natural fit,” Scott Barlow, VP of global MSP and cloud alliances at Oxfordshire, U.K.-based Sophos, told CRN in an exclusive interview.

More than 40,000 MSPs in the Pax8 network will gain access to a host of Sophos products, including Sophos managed detection and response (MDR), endpoint protection powered by Intercept X and Sophos Firewalls. The integration of these tools into Pax8’s marketplace will allow MSPs to consolidate their security stacks to streamline operations, simplify billing and improve efficiency.

Sophos and Pax8 partner Rob Fallows has been “eagerly waiting” for this partnership as it will streamline how his MSP does business.

[Related: Sophos-Secureworks Merger: 5 Big Partner Takeaways]

“Working with Pax8 is a seamless experience that makes it easy to focus on better serving our customers,” Fallows, president of Phoenix-based TeamLogic IT Northwest Valley, told CRN in an email. “We never need to prompt them for invoices and execution is flawless.”

In addition to simplifying cybersecurity management, the partnership ensures that MSPs can enhance their clients’ protection across Microsoft environments. Sophos' MDR service integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Defender, providing a critical layer of security.

The collaboration also includes enhanced support for MSPs with Pax8 facilitating billing and provisioning, while Sophos offers direct technical support. The integrated system simplifies the day-to-day operations of MSPs, making it easier to manage security services for clients across a variety of industries.

“We help MSPs streamline the billing process and even show them usage data directly within our platform so they can see which customers are consuming which services,” Ryan Burton, vice president of vendor marketplace strategy at Greenwood Village, Colorado-based Pax8, told CRN in an interview.

“This partnership is just the beginning. We’ll continue to work closely with Sophos to ensure our MSPs have the most innovative and effective security solutions at their fingertips.”

The partnership also aligns with Pax8’s core mission: to help MSPs enhance operational efficiency and grow their businesses, “We focus on three main aspects, operational efficiency, revenue growth and risk reduction,” Burton added.

As cyber threats continue to evolve, Pax8 is dedicated to ensuring that the partnership with Sophos remains innovative and responsive to MSPs' changing needs.

“Our goal is to provide candid feedback from our partners and inform Sophos of what they are asking for,” Burton said.

The continuous feedback loop allows the partnership to stay agile and proactive, keeping MSPs equipped with the latest and most effective cybersecurity solutions, he added.

For Barlow (pictured above), the latest partnership is a “win-win” for both MSPs and their clients.

“By offering everything under one roof, MSPs can significantly reduce their daily security management tasks, ultimately allowing them to focus on growing their business,” he said. “We’ve seen a growing need for security as businesses shift their workloads to the cloud. Through this partnership, MSPs can now offer their customers enhanced security solutions for their cloud environments, including firewall protection and cloud security posture management.”

Sophos will be available on Pax8’s marketplace on Feb. 28.