Security ISVs partner to tackle global market

Perth ISV WebSpy and Canberra confrere ContentKeeper Technologies are tackling the world market together, signing an OEM deal that bundles web-reporting and filtering software with joint marketing initiatives.

Jack Andrys, CEO of ASX-listed WebSpy, said that ContentKeeper had agreed to bundle the West Australian ISV's reporting engine with every copy of its content filtering software sold.

The deal would likely help both ISVs increase international sales, as the companies tended to have overseas offices in different places, Andrys said.

WebSpy, which claims 7,500 customers globally, has overseas offices in London, and Seattle in the US.

"ContentKeeper doesn't have much representation in the US. It has ... healthy government business in Canberra, and in Europe," he said. "Europe is so fragmented. And they have opened an office in Thailand recently. We haven't done much in opening up in Asia."

Andrys expected the deal to help lift government sales for WebSpy, which had been broadening its reach to larger organisations. "But we're not forgetting the SMBs, which [our competitors] don't do very well," he said. "We're definitely after more larger customers."

The annually renewable arrangement would be complemented with cross-marketing initiatives both here and overseas and could be expanded over time, Andrys said.

He could not put a figure on the value to WebSpy over time of the deal but suggested that it might lift the ISV's revenue locally about 30 percent.

ContentKeeper was a private company but he believed that the Canberra content filtering company had been turning over some $5 million a year after a shaky start, Andrys said.

David Wigley, managing director at ContentKeeper, was not available to comment by press time but said in a statement that the bundled offering created an "enhanced" product that might help businesspeople control internet use at their companies.

ContentKeeper, whose business has grown 80 percent in the past year, would also offer a modified version of WebSpy's reporting and analysis software, the statement said.