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INTERNATIONAL AGENTS Aryaka Networks, a provider of fully managed cloud-first WAN and SASE services, announced the avail- ability of its latest services point of presence (PoP) in Dublin, Ireland, inside the newly redrawn EU bound- ary. The new Dublin operation further expands access to Aryaka’s managed services to half a billion EU citizens, the largest single trading bloc in the world, adding to existing Aryaka PoPs in Frankfurt and Amsterdam, as well as London, now outside the EU. During 2021, Aryaka will also establish PoPs in Paris and Moscow. The first “tenants” for the facil - ity include a large financial institu - tion with operations in 10 countries. Aryaka chose the Irish capital to continue to stay ahead of future changes to legislation such as the General Data Protection Regula- tion (GDPR), a cornerstone of data privacy under EU jurisdiction. The move to provide yet more network options comes as Aryaka’s success in replacing incumbent European telecoms providers gathers pace, said the company. Earlier this year it also acquired German company Secucloud, a proven SASE platform provider, expanding its footprint in the region. And in recognition of the region’s importance, former senior vice president and general manager Ian McEwan was recently promoted to global chief revenue officer. Europe has witnessed business disruption at physical and virtual borders, related to the Brexit transi- tion. Border friction is “here to stay” according to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, and months into Brexit disputes at physical borders remain. As a result, businesses are looking to future-proof their data operations with more flexible connectivity strategies in case of future legislative changes, while maintaining the best-in-class applica- tion performance they need to weather the demands of digital transformation. “Aryaka’s new EU facility is a direct result of customer feedback,” said McEwan. “As we are now serving our largest ever customers, we strive to offer a level of flexibility our competitors cannot match. This new generation of customers want alterna- tives to the status quo of large carri- ers. Aryaka’s new facilities mean they can protect their businesses, regard- less of any future political change. This is a smart, forward-looking move for our customers.” Aryaka Unveils New PoP in Dublin Riverbed Names Global Channel Leadership Riverbed promoted Eric Tinker to SVP commercial sales and channel business along with Meg Brennan to VP global channels. The U.S. networking vendor reshuf- fled its top leadership roster during the first and second quarters. In February it appointed Brecht Seurinck to VP channel sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Tinker had been the interim leader for Riverbed Global Channels following his predecessor Bridget Bisnette’s retirement announcement earlier this year. Prior to Riverbed, he was a senior director renewals and technical support at Sales- force and SVP global renewals at PTC. Brennan is also an inside hire, having been with Riverbed for five years. She formerly was at Dell EMC, Arrow and Tech Data in senior sales and marketing roles. Riverbed’s Chief Operating Officer Dan Smoot said Tinker and Brennan will be tasked with helping partners monopolize on “growing demand” for the networking vendor’s solutions. Pax8 recently announced the acquisition of cloud services distributor Resello. Based in the Netherlands, with a regional office in Germany, Resello has built a robust cloud services business spanning more than 40 European countries and supporting partners in 15 languages. The company is an authorized Microsoft CSP Indirect Provider and cloud services distrib- utor with a growing number of cloud services available in solution areas such as the modern workplace, cybersecurity and infrastructure. “Digital transformation has never been more urgent, and we are helping partners realize the benefits, value and impact to businesses,” said John Street, chief executive officer at Pax8. “The acquisition enables us to continue to expand our presence into inter- national markets, add localized support, and accelerate and scale cloud adoption worldwide.” Pax8 Acquires Resello to Expand International Reach StarLink Becomes Blue Prism’s First VAD in Middle East Blue Prism has created a new value- added distribution (VAD) model by partnering with StarLink, a fast- growing value-added distributor (VAD) in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region. The new model aligns with Blue Prism’s mission to help organizations globally to access Blue Prism technol- ogy and services and contributes to the business’s globalization efforts. Blue Prism and StarLink will estab- lish a unified distribution process with engagements and competency within the StarLink channel community to help address regional customers’ automation goals. The partnership will provide Blue Prism with visibility into the new business market and will facilitate expansion of the Blue Prism partner eco-system. 54 CHANNEL V ISION | July - August 2021