Cloud channel aggregator rhipe has inked a distribution deal with email management, security and archiving solution company SMX.
Rhipe says the agreement with SMX is the latest move in its rapid expansion plans.
Last month rhipe acquired Queensland-based Microsoft partner Dynamics Business Solutions for $4.7 million, with the bulk of that funded from “existing cash resources”.
The acquisition complements the distribution deal for KPMG’s Wiise cloud accounting technology for small to medium businesses, signed last October.
Tovia Va’aelua, rhipe’s country manager for New Zealand, says the deal with SMX will provide a needed email management solution for rhipe’s existing and new clients.
“Not only does it provide excellent security for email in terms of attack from malware, but it is also a smart solution for the public and private sector to meet the legal compliance around the archiving of emails,” says Va’aelua, in a statement.
“We are currently migrating 25 customers from a large New Zealand datacentre leveraging SMX skills and tools to enable seamless migration.”
Credit: Gino Demeer New Zealand founded and owned SMX is an all-of-government supplier in New Zealand as well as being behind Spark’s Xtra email service. It is currently managing more than one million email boxes.
Ian McDonald, CEO of SMX, says the agreement with rhipe is in keeping with SMX’s move from direct to a partnership model, utilising cloud services.
“While we have been in email management and security for 13 years, we have identified a pressing need among organisations for email archiving, and support for legacy data migration on to a cloud solution. Archiving is critical for three reasons – risk management, contestability and meeting statutory requirements.
“With rhipe connecting with clients we can focus on product development and supporting customers alongside the extended rhipe team.”
Rhipe, which has just reported a 30 per cent increase in sales to $119.4 million for the six months to December 31, 2018, says it is quickly building its portfolio of cloud-based software solutions and expanding its Asia Pacific footprint.
Its continuing investment in the indirect Microsoft Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) programme for Office 365 has seen it grow the number of CSP Office seats by 200,000 in the past year to 430,000 seats.
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