Netrix CEO On Tool Sprawl And Microsoft’s ‘Impressive’ Security Growth

Security News

Kyle Alspach

July 31, 2023, 12:07 PM EDT

CEO Russ Reeder says that Netrix is finding significant traction in helping customers adopt Microsoft security technologies such as the Sentinel cloud-native SIEM.

All-In On Microsoft

When Microsoft debuted its cloud-native SIEM, Sentinel, in 2019, one of its early partners was solution provider powerhouse Netrix Global. Sentinel has aimed to provide SIEM (security information and event management) capabilities for enabling security operations teams to monitor and respond to threats — taking advantage of cloud scale for better analysis of the massive amounts of security data that’s generated today. For Bannockburn, Ill.-based Netrix, No. 196 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2023, teaming with Microsoft from the early days of Sentinel has paid off handsomely, according to Netrix Global CEO Russ Reeder. When it comes to Microsoft Sentinel, “we’ve seen a huge uptick in clients that raise their hand and say, ‘We’d like to learn more about that,’” Reeder said in an interview with CRN. Often, that interest then opens the door for Netrix to do a fuller review of the client’s IT and security architecture, he said.

[Related: Microsoft Says 15,000 Partners Are Driving Its $20 Billion Security Business]

Microsoft is a great choice as a cybersecurity vendor not solely because of Sentinel, but also because the company offers a wide array of security capabilities at this stage — offering clients the ability to consolidate and reduce the number of vendors they’re working with, Reeder said. That’s something that many customers are calling for, he said, amid growing complexity in security caused by this “tool sprawl” issue. At this point, “Microsoft does 90 percent of what [other security] companies do,” Reeder said.

Microsoft has organized its security portfolio — which it says spans more than 50 product categories overall — into six product lines. In addition to Sentinel, those include Defender — a broad portfolio of threat detection tools spanning endpoint, email, cloud, applications and more — as well as Entra identity management and security; Purview data protection; Priva privacy risk management; and Intune endpoint management. More than 60 percent of Microsoft’s security customers now utilize at least four of the company’s security products, a 33-percent increase from a year ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last week during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

Ultimately, “it’s really impressive” to see Microsoft’s emergence as a top security vendor in recent years, Reeder said.

What follows is an edited portion of CRN’s interview with Reeder.

 

Kyle Alspach

Kyle Alspach is a Senior Editor at CRN focused on cybersecurity. His coverage spans news, analysis and deep dives on the cybersecurity industry, with a focus on fast-growing segments such as cloud security, application security and identity security.  He can be reached at kalspach@thechannelcompany.com.