AUGUST 11--iWebGate has announced the signing of an agreement with US-based AppDirect to sell iWebGate’s Workspace Suite of network security services through Telstra’s online Apps marketplace.

Representing a significant revenue opportunity for iWebGate, the company that says it is ‘pioneering the Virtualisation of Network Services’, the deal has ‘the opportunity to reach hundreds of thousands of Telstra customers at small, medium and enterprise-level organisations across Australia.’

iWebGate’s ‘Workspace Suite’ is now available to Telstra customers and has the potential to generate significant revenue for iWebGate in the current financial year with positive growth prospects in subsequent years, which it is unsurprisingly trumpeting.

So who is US-based AppDirect?

iWebGate explains that AppDirect is ‘a leading global online commerce platform that allows end users to browse, purchase and manage subscriptions to cloud services and applications.’

AppDirect operates internet marketplaces for its syndication partners, including Telstra, Samsung, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast and Swisscom.

We’re told that, under the terms of the agreement with AppDirect, ‘Telstra will be actively promoting iWebGate’s security application to its end-user customers via regionally based partners who are established vendors of a broad suite of Telstra products.’

In addition to reaching a potential market of hundreds of thousands of end users through the Telstra Apps marketplace, iWebGate says that distribution of its application through AppDirect ‘delivers a high level of customer service to end users, ensuring a premium and consistent customer experience,’ although you’d naturally expect them to say that.

And naturally, iWebGate says it is working closely with Telstra’s partners ‘to provide a high level of customer service and support to end users.’

Mark Harrell, iWebGate’s MD said: “We are delighted that AppDirect and Telstra have endorsed our Workspace Suite of network security services by adding it to the products it offers to hundreds of thousands of organisations across Australia.

The agreement not only provides strong validation of our product offering and services, but it also opens up a significant revenue opportunity for iWebGate, bringing immediate sales as well as long-term revenue generation due to the subscription nature of the product.

“In addition, we are pleased to be working with AppDirect to deliver the highest level of customer service to end users of our product,” he concluded.

iWebGate’s Workspace Suite gives access to multiple iWebGate services including:

• Proxy LP - is a proxy service integrated with multi-factor authentication and certificate management tools. It enables the customer to select which of the customer services are not exposed to internal and external networks.
• VNP LP - couples Virtual Local Area Networking (VLAN) with network layer Peer-to-Peer technology via a software solution. Using iWebGate software the customer’s network administrators can combine secure VLANs between network(s).
• Desktop LP - provides secure remote desktop access for the customer’s end users back to the customer’s corporate network.
• Cloud services - end users have access to iWebGate’s Cloud storage services that have been developed in conjunction with Cisco.

To further explain what ‘pioneering the Virtaulisation of Network Services’ means, iWebGate says it is a ‘new abstraction layer [that] provides operational simplicity and new capabilities across all networks,’ using the company’s ‘segregation technology [which] takes best practice DMZ Security and Cyber Kill Chain Processes and incorporates a ‘client delivery’ model that enables secure provisioning to every segment of the market.’

iWebGate further explains that its software suite ‘abstracts the network layer from all existing networks, allowing for internal stratification and endpoint security for all services and devices.’

Finally, we’re told that ‘iWebGate features a patented network linking technology, providing next generation VPN connectivity,’ and that ‘all network services can be accessed via a secure, encrypted mobile container built for virtually every operating system and for any device: phone, tablet or laptop.’

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt