Proofpoint deepens Canadian-based support for threat detection capabilities

Proofpoint has provided some security capabilities to Canadian customers in their Canadian data centre already, but now is making advanced sandboxing available in that data centre as well.

Proofpoint has extended the capabilities of the solutions it makes available to Canadian customers in their Canadian data centre, with the addition of Targeted Attack Protection [TAP], which includes static analysis, sandboxing, and machine learning-based technology. This makes all of Proofpoint’s full advanced threat detection capabilities available to customers within their Canadian data centre.

“We have had our base threat detection already available in the Canadian data centre,” said Jeffrey Freedman, Proofpoint’s Canadian country manager. “This is the first step in detection. However until now, for the second step, the advanced sandboxing, they had to go to the U.S. to do that. That’s okay for most Canadian customers, but some of them did want the sandboxing to be accessible in the Canadian data centre.”

While Freedman said that no specific customer or type of customer had told Proofpoint “thou shalt do this,” the company felt that the time was right to extend its Canadian-based security capabilities.

“We have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in Canada, and we felt that it was the right time for an added investment,” he indicated. “We have been on a tear with our growth rate here, so for those for whom this is important, we wanted to deliver.”

Proofpoint has been building up its presence in the Canadian market because of that growth rate.

“From a sales point of view, we have 20 people in Canada, but from a total footprint perspective in Canada, we now have 217 employees and are growing,” Freedman said. “With Work from Anywhere, people are the new perimeter and the weakest link in security, so that’s where our focus is.”

Proofpoint has a hybrid Go-to-Market model, but they have a strong channel presence in Canada.

“Our partners include large companies like CDW and Softchoice, as well as traditional VAR and SI partners,” Freedman said. “On the distribution side, we have been long-time Ingram Micro partners, and we signed on with what is now TD SYNNEX last year, while retaining the Ingram partnership.”

While in some respects this announcement is limited, since it is an extension rather than an establishment of Canadian data centre capability, Freedman believes that channel partners will like the general tone of the news.

“Our partners care about ensuring the best cyber security for their clients,” he said. “Our ability to deliver this is why our renewal rates are so high. The ability to retain and grow with existing customers is important, and anything that helps partners to do this pleases them. We think they will like this announcement. So we believe it will increase our addressable market in the country, and help continue our exceptional growth.

“Having best of breed technology for security is critical,” Freedman continued. “The business problems around security are not going away, especially ransomware. Canadian organizations know they need the right technology to address this.  Work From Anywhere has made people the core of the business problem and we believe we can help by increasing their resilience and reducing their vulnerability.”

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