Iomega Announces Managed Services Marketing Agreement With C I Host
Iomega Corporation today announced a strategic partnership with C I Host, the fifth largest Web-hosting company in the world, to market Iomega's new managed services products.
Iomega also announced that it has finalized its acquisition of CSCI, Inc., a San Diego-based managed services and outsourced IT company.
With the closing of the acquisition of CSCI, the 2006 winner of the Juniper Networks, Inc. "Managed Services Provider of the Year" award, Iomega will begin selling its first managed services to SMBs in September: Iomega OfficeScreen services, a suite of managed security services that provide small to medium-sized businesses with secure wide-area networks that efficiently and economically link offices and remote workers.
With the partnership announced today, C I Host will begin marketing Iomega OfficeScreen managed services in September. C I Host provides more than 300,000 consumers and small and medium-sized businesses in 190 countries with managed web hosting, single and multiple server colocation and enterprise dedicated servers. C I Host has one of the most extensive portfolios of data center colocation and managed Web hosting services in the industry.
"With the launch of Iomega OfficeScreen managed services and the strategic partnership with C I Host, Iomega's goal is to establish ourselves as a leader in the managed services market," said Jonathan Huberman, Chief Executive Officer, Iomega Corporation. "Today, more than ever, SMBs need simple, secure, easy-to-use networks from a company they trust. We intend to capitalize on the growing managed services market by bringing Iomega OfficeScreen managed services products to small businesses worldwide via our existing channels-VARs, systems integrators, direct and indirect sales and retail operations-and through new mutually beneficial relationships like the strategic partnership we announced today with C I Host. We are excited about this agreement and look forward to bringing our managed service solutions to market with C I Host."
Christopher Faulkner, CEO, C I Host, said, "Iomega OfficeScreen managed security services will be a synergistic service from C I Host that meets the security needs of small and medium-sized businesses around the world. At C I Host, we believe in providing SMBs and others with economical network solutions that give them the peace of mind that they have the best in web hosting, server and colocation solutions. Iomega OfficeScreen managed security services fit perfectly with our product portfolio."
Currently hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. utilize OfficeScreen as a secure, reliable outsourced network security and VPN service that is inexpensive, does not require upfront hardware expenses, dedicated IT resources or large IT budgets. OfficeScreen's firewall/VPN, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) (launching in September) and IPSec (IP security) bundles create secure wide area networks that connect remote offices and workers to applications and data at a company's headquarters, while countering security threats from hackers, worms and viruses across a company's entire network.
Iomega expects to grow the existing OfficeScreen business in the U.S. by selling its branded managed services through several different channels, including telecommunications providers, hosting companies, VARs and Systems Integrators, direct and indirect sales organizations and retail operations. By utilizing its strong European sales infrastructure, Iomega also plans to launch its new managed services in international markets, beginning with the United Kingdom before the end of 2006.
"Iomega OfficeScreen is just the beginning of new service solutions for SMBs from Iomega," said Huberman. "OfficeScreen will be the basis of a new growth platform for Iomega. The market for managed services for SMBs is starting to take off, and Iomega is positioned to grow with the market."
According to independent market analysis, the global market for managed security services is expected to be $2.9 billion in 2006, growing to $3.7 billion in 2008.