Sophos MSP Alesund Data Provides the ‘Whole Package’ to Its Customers With Sophos MDR

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Alesund Data, a Norwegian IT service provider, offers Sophos solutions to all their customers as standard because “they are the best” and enjoys a “partnership that really works.“

Apr 11 2024 By

“Sophos immediately helped us find solutions to overcome ransomware threats. We checked out a lot of vendors, and Sophos Intercept X really stood out from the crowd at the time. Obviously now we’ve gone much further in our partnership with Sophos and taken the Managed Service Provider route selling Sophos MDR.“

Roar Pedersen, CEO, Alesund Data

Partner Background

Alesund Data is a Sophos Managed Service Provider (MSP) providing IT services to the oil and gas, maritime and healthcare sectors in Norway. Due to the high sensitivity of the data owned by its customers, the diversity of data, and complexity of where it is stored, the company needs comprehensive and reliable security solutions to ensure robust protection. Heightened ransomware risks in 2016 prompted Alesund Data to upgrade its security offerings with Sophos. Further to implementing Intercept X from Sophos, the company now provides Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR) to all customers in their service bundles as standard. Today, Alesund Data is one of the largest providers of Sophos solutions in Norway.

Business Challenges

The initial challenge for Alesund Data was to find cybersecurity solutions to mitigate a series of ransomware threats targeted at its customers in 2016. The company had not historically been a security reseller, but as a provider of IT services to the healthcare sector, the team at Alesund Data knew that comprehensive protection was necessary to safeguard the sensitive nature of its customers’ data. Additionally, the company needed cybersecurity solutions for its customers with complex needs, such as protection on satellite communications and shipping vessels

The Technical Solution

In 2016, having explored competing solutions available on the market, Alesund Data selected Intercept X from Sophos as its preferred endpoint security solution for its customers. Through its partnership with Sophos, Alesund Data identified the benefits that could be gained through Sophos Central as the centralized command and control dashboard, together with all the associated solutions it could provide to its customers through Sophos. The company went on to become a Managed Service Provider in 2013 to enable them to provide a full MDR service for its customers.

Roar Pedersen, CEO, goes on to say: “We offer Sophos solutions to all our customers as standard because we know they are the best. Sophos is easy to use and it’s ideal within the various industries we support. This has had a really positive impact on our business while mitigating the security challenges our customers face and ensuring they are secure.“

Business Benefits

As an MSP selling Sophos MDR, Alesund Data provides high-quality cybersecurity protection to its customers, ensuring peace of mind for everyone. Alesund Data’s technical team receives comprehensive training and ongoing support from the Sophos team of MDR experts to understand new cybersecurity threats, new developments in Sophos solutions, and gets one-on-one support to help identify and package the best solutions for its customers. Roar Pedersen, CEO at Alesund Data, notes significant business benefits for the company and for its customers:

  • Peace of mind that Alesund Data’s customers are provided with comprehensive cybersecurity protection, supported by the 24/7/365 Sophos MDR team
  • An easy-to-use and intuitive platform for Roar and his colleagues, fully supported by the Sophos MDR team
  • Round-the-clock support and expertise from the Sophos team of MDR experts
  • Help with understanding and implementation of new Sophos solutions as they are rolled out
  • The flexibility and knowledge to roll out cybersecurity solutions in complex scenarios such as maritime vessels and oil and gas plants
  • Strategic selling advice from Sophos on solution selection and packaging
  • The diversity of solutions provided by Sophos to support business growth

“As a Sophos MSP, we can easily transfer the benefits of Sophos MDR to our customers, and that’s why we include it in every bundle. As an MSP, being able to provide this protection is fantastic for our business. The support we gain from the Sophos team is also incredible. From training to supporting us with solution selection and packaging our services, this is a partnership that really works.“ Roar Pedersen, CEO, Alesund Data

About the Author

Sophos is a global leader and innovator of advanced security solutions that defeat cyberattacks, including Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and incident response services and a broad portfolio of endpoint, network, email, and cloud security technologies. As one of the largest pure-play cybersecurity providers, Sophos defends more than 600,000 organizations and more than 100 million users worldwide from active adversaries, ransomware, phishing, malware, and more. Sophos’ services and products connect through the Sophos Central management console and are powered by Sophos X-Ops, the company’s cross-domain threat intelligence unit. Sophos X-Ops intelligence optimizes the entire Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem, which includes a centralized data lake that leverages a rich set of open APIs available to customers, partners, developers, and other cybersecurity and information technology vendors. Sophos provides cybersecurity-as-a-service to organizations needing fully managed security solutions. Customers can also manage their cybersecurity directly with Sophos’ security operations platform or use a hybrid approach by supplementing their in-house teams with Sophos’ services, including threat hunting and remediation. Sophos sells through reseller partners and managed service providers (MSPs) worldwide. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com.