Ingram Micro hires Cisco's Rod Lazarus to lead new cybersecurity practice

Ingram Micro has appointed Rod Lazarus as its new general manager for cybersecurity, tasked to lead its dedicated cybersecurity practice.

The distributor announced last year that it plans to build a dedicated cybersecurity team to help channel partners move beyond volume sales of standard security products, like firewall and endpoint protection, and pivot into delivering custom solutions to meet specific needs of end users.

Ingram Micro head of advanced solutions Brett Armstrong said Lazarus is responsible for “all things security” and will build a team to support resellers.

Armstrong added that Lazarus’ hiring and the plans to form a security team came following sustained demand for cybersecurity solutions, particularly as businesses across Australia rapidly pivot to the cloud.

“End users clearly must ramp up their security posture with no respite in the volume and frequency of attacks. A decade ago, we had siloes of information and big walls to keep attackers out. Today, data and applications are shifting into the cloud, with a major acceleration through the COVID pandemic,” he said.

“That means a considerably expanded threat surface and, along with the shift, we’ve also seen the emergence of new vendors and solutions which resellers need to take cognizance of.”

Lazarus joined Ingram Micro following close to five years at Cisco as its ANZ head of cybersecurity services. Prior to that he was APJ head of global alliances at FireEye, and also had stints at Verizon APJ and Telstra in various cybersecurity roles.

Speaking about his new role, Lazarus said, “Cybersecurity is on the agenda of just about every organisation owing to recognition of the clear and present threats. Already, we’ve seen a surge in demand from resellers. Now, Ingram Micro is working to empower the channel with cohesive solutions to help protect their customers.”

“If you’re not talking security as part of every customer engagement, you’re not having the right conversation.”

Armstrong confirmed that Ingram will make additional hires under Lazarus, including solution architects, security consultants, product managers and deep domain sales experts.

“Under Rod’s leadership, we’re creating a focused team which will draw on our Singapore Centre of Excellence, and work across vendors for the creation of effective go to market strategies as well as scalable and repeatable services for rapid delivery to end users,” Armstrong said.

“The result of the cybersecurity team is that partners can provide quality security solutions with confidence, which put end user interests at the centre. With Rod’s proven capability in creating and leading teams, our resellers can look forward to accessing in-demand solutions to rapidly address customer demand.”