CyberHound is an Australian made cybersecurity success story. The company develops some of the most sophisticated K12 learning enablement and cyber safety solutions in the market.
Part of the Superloop group, CyberHound helps schools simply and flexibly optimise, secure and manage their internet services. Its platform helps students engage in digital learning and allows staff to confidently use online resources without worrying about internet access, performance or reliability.
Founder John Fison said the company offers solutions as hosted, virtualised or through appliances which are the preferred delivery method for many customers in the education market.
Fison also explained that Superloop has been developing a new platform, CyberEdge, which is now available for SMB customers. This offers the very latest cybersecurity protection.
The Hewlett Packard Enterprise relationship is important for this new service as well.
Since its founding in 1999, the company had been building its own appliances, Fison explained.
“We would buy all the component parts from Taiwan and then we would assemble them and we ship out our own homegrown appliance server platforms.
However, as Fison explained, the company realised that as it grew, this approach was not sustainable, efficient and did not give CyberHound access to the very best technology.
“So we ended up partnering with HPE about six years ago now,” he said.
This partnership led to CyberHound joining the HPE worldwide OEM partner program, giving it access to technology and exposure that John and his team could only dream of previously.
“We've been very happy with not just the technology, but also a lot of the commercial advantages that's given us, as well as some really significant marketing activities,” Fison explained.
“That's very important to us, because cybersecurity is obviously a very hot area today.”
For Andrew Susa, Director of OEM sales, Asia Pacific region at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the
partnership from a HPE standpoint began with maximising the fit and value of HPE products integrated into the CyberHound solution.
This involved selecting, configuring and testing the optimal hardware including the Silicon Root of Trust security that is built into the company’s server platforms, through to leveraging HPE’s InfoSight and OneView to maximise performance and manageability and then integrating Aruba security products such as ClearPass.
A reliable supply chain ensured demand was met on time.
“CyberHound signed onto the OEM program as a result of the value they saw in it to enhance the
reliability of their offering to customers,” Susa said.
“Key features of the program include extended warranties, prolonged server and option lifecycle that result in stable and consistent compute platform for their servers, priority support lines, customisation and international shipping support.
“As a business partner, we are able to expand the value of our partnership by increasing market profile and awareness for CyberHound through exposure and promotion at HPE events and forums and website. We have also integrated CyberHound into the HPE sales campaigns.
“As CyberHound expanded their operations globally we were able to support this expansion through our international offices, marketing campaigns and a consistent service model through our global service locations.
“HPE Financial Services offers flexible financing models making it easier for CyberHound customers to purchase their products, compared to one onerous large up-front cost.”
For Fison, the other huge benefit was the exposure the company received after joining the program.
CyberHound was invited to participate in HPE’s Discover conference in 2019 and in 2020. The company also participated in the Aruba Atmosphere Asia in 2019 and the global virtual event in 2020.
Added to this was the HPE OEM and Intel technology summit in Malaysia 2019 and various other local and international in-person and virtual events.
“It's quite a competitive market,” Fison explained. “So, anything that gives us an advantage, be that from the technology that we use to deliver this to customers, which we rely on HPE entirely for, to any marketing benefits we can gain, those really, really do count. They result in us being able to increase our business quite significantly.
“Being based here in Australia, the partnership with HPE has been really beneficial. We've been able to sell our service into different parts of the world, in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. We have had a lot of success, because customers can just procure, or we can organize for them exactly the same server platforms and they get consistency of service.”
CyberHound’s customers are reassured by the partnership because HPE is a manufacturer with
credibility second to none.
“It means we're not having to deal with physically shipping servers, crossing borders and dealing with customs and duties and all of those nightmares,” Fison says.
“So, it really helps us scale our business and take it global.”
For ISVs like CyberHound, the key benefits of working with HPE, beyond working with a trusted and respected global brand, include:
- Having a partner for the future and a pioneer which continuously invests and innovates in market leading products and services.
- Enhanced leverage and market reach through HPE sales and channel partners, a large ecosystem of partners to enhance the ISV product offering and service.
- Enhanced market visibility and awareness via HPE marketing and events.
- The significant benefits of the OEM partner solution program to enhance solution reliability and lower costs and risks, and the significant power of HPE Financial Services and Greenlake that enable customers to more easily buy and use the ISV products and services.
Susa explained that HPE works with ISV partners on numerous fronts.
“Our OEM program then serves to robustly stand up the solution of ISV by enhancing solution reliability and lowering costs and risks – extended warranties, prolonged server and option lifecycle, priority support lines, customisation and international shipping support.
“As a business partner, we are able to expand the value of our partnership by increasing market profile and awareness of our partners through exposure and promotion at HPE events and forums and website.
"We have also helped enhance go-to-market capabilities through the leverage of the HPE sales force and channel partners, offering greater reach to customers and markets.
“The global profile and footprint of HPE also presents partners with global reach and marketing
opportunities, supported by HPE’s global service capability.
“HPE Financial Services and Greenlake enable the ISV’s customers to more easily purchase the product and service of the ISV partner by offering flexible financing and a consumption model where the customer only pays for what they use, compared with a large up-front cost.”
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