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That deal yielded miserable results, and the companies ultimately got divorced. But in reality, the line between BDR (backup and disaster recovery) and security in the MSP sector has been fading away since at least 2016, as ChannelE2E has previously reported.Īnd don’t forget Symantec and Veritas tried a similar security-data protection merger strategy (on a much larger scale) more than a decade. There’s certainly potential upside here for both companies and their partners. But they’re strong, logical hunches.ĭéjà vu: Data Protection and Security Converge AgainĬarbonite is trying to position the Webroot business combination as revolutionary. The partnerships above are just my hunches. Sophos, Veeam and Midmarket Partners: Also, watch for a potential Sophos (security) and Veeam (data protection) relationship to blossom among midmarket customers and partners.Sophos, Datto and MSPs: Watch for Sophos (security) and Datto (data protection) to double-down on MSP partner opportunities together.And it will likely drive some third parties to work even more closely together. Still, the Carbonite-Webroot combination faces formidable competition. But Webroot (backed by 14,000 MSPs) has true credibility in the market. No doubt, Carbonite had the beginnings of an MSP channel. The EVault deal, in particular, was supposed to generate momentum with midmarket MSPs. The company has acquired Dell’s EMC Mozy, Data Castle, EVault and Double Take Software. Indeed, Carbonite CEO Mohamad Ali confirmed during a February 7 earnings call that other companies had bid for Webroot - though he didn’t reveal the bidders’ corporate names.Ĭarbonite has spent nearly a decade trying to build or buy its way into the MSP partner ecosystem. I suspect Barracuda knew someone was about to acquire Webroot before Carbonite announced the deal on February 7. The background? We wonder if Barracuda was bidding to acquire Webroot, lost out, and partnered up with Avast as an alternative strategy against the just-announced Carbonite-Webroot combination. Ironically (and perhaps intuitively) Barracuda just last week partnered with Avast. Avast is the MSP partner wildcard on the list, though the company does have a new relationship with Barracuda. McAfee and Symantec have been in evolution mode (for the past decade, come to think of it). Veeam and Acronis must also be taken seriously in that sector. Barracuda also has strong MSP relationships. Much of the battle will occur in the SMB-centric MSP (managed IT services provider) partner market, where Datto and Sophos have extremely strong MSP relationships. Source: Carbonite financial presentation.