Distributor Pax8 Strikes Gold Migrating MX Logic Customers To Symantec

Cloud distributor Pax8 said it has migrated thousands of customers from Intel Security's MX Logic email security and continuity product to Symantec as MX Logic's end-of-life approaches.

"It's been huge," said Nick Heddy, vice president of sales for the upstart Greenwood Village, Colo.-based distributor. "If you've got stuff, we've got a way to help you."

Axispoint Technology has leaned heavily on Pax8 to help transition customers off MX Logic – which was branded in recent years as the McAfee SaaS Email Protection line – and onto Symantec before renewals for the product sunset on Jan. 11, said Myriam Martinez, manager of support services for the Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.-based Pax8 partner.

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This area of Axispoint's business has been growing by leaps and bounds, Martinez said, allowing the company to take on new customers and train new hires. But Martinez said she doesn't have time to migrate tons of customers all at once from MX Logic to Symantec.

That's where Martinez said Pax8 comes in. Not only did Pax8 offer to transition the customers on Axispoint's behalf, Martinez said, it also provided Axispoint with content for the company to include in its email blasts detailing how the migration would be carried out.

"I don't even have to think about it," Martinez said. "They've given me all the tools and the labor to help me keep my business going without having to pull my hair out."

Pax8 and MX Logic are connected through John Street, who founded MX Logic in 2002 and led the company for more than seven years before selling it to Intel Security. Less than three years later, Street launched and became CEO of Pax8.

Street now has the opportunity to bring many of his old customers over to Pax8's largest vendor partner, Symantec. Intel Security had named Proofpoint as the vendor that would officially support an alternative for MX Logic.

In September, Pax8 became the first distributor to offer Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) Cloud with an automated integration. Roughly 55 percent of Pax8's overall sales are related to security, Heddy said.

"A lot of people have one product – maybe it's endpoint or email security – but that doesn't totally protect you 360 degrees," Heddy said.

Pax8's Ryan Walsh, senior vice president of partner solutions, praised the firepower of SEP Cloud, saying it immediately picked up on three threats that weren't detected by a competitor's scan. SEP Cloud was built with today's multi-device world in mind, Walsh said, with each user allowed up to five devices across the PC, Mac, iOS and Android operating systems.

"The user interface is awesome," Walsh said. "They really went for simplicity."

Walsh also praised Symantec $4.65 billion acquisition of Blue Coat Systems, which closed in August, saying the deal will allow Symantec to marry its endpoint and email inbox capability with Blue Coat's strength about web gateway and web application security.

"The power of Symantec and Blue Coat coming together can absolutely not be underestimated given the threat intelligence network that they both bring together," Walsh said. "It was a very complementary acquisition."

End users need to have web gateway, email and endpoint security lined up to be completely protected, Heddy said. Clients in high-compliance areas should also obtain data loss prevention and advanced threat protection offerings to be totally protected, Heddy said.

Pax8 has been adding roughly 50 managed service providers each month, Walsh said, and is also bringing on national resellers. Earlier this month, Pax8 won the Best in Show award at the NextGen Conference & Expo, hosted by CRN's parent, The Channel Company.