Fast Growing IGEL Set To Shake Up Endpoint Market With NVIDIA, AWS Integration And New MSP/SI Program

Coming off a year of 50 percent software sales growth, IGEL is raising the stakes in the endpoint protection and management market with a blockbuster technology collaboration with NVIDIA, AWS integration, an LG partnership, and a ground breaking new managed service provider/systems integrator (SI) partner program.

IGEL is set to formally unveil the new alliances and the MSP/SI program at its DISRUPT 2019 End User Computing Forum to be held Feb. 5-7 in Silicon Valley.

Jed Ayres, president and CEO of IGEL North America and global CMO, said the ambitious 2019 slate is aimed at propelling the once little known German company that broke the $100 million revenue barrier this year into the undisputed number one position in the software defined endpoint market over the next 18 to 24 months.

"Something special is happening here," said Ayres, speaking about the company's 26 percent overall revenue growth in 2019 to $110 million with a whopping 79 percent software sales growth in the US market. "We deployed nearly 500,000 net new IGEL OS clients in 2018 and we are aiming to double that this year. Nobody in this market is growing at this pace. The deals are getting bigger and bigger. We did seven deals this year over $1 million."

Ayres attributed the company's success to a relentless focus on delivering disruptive software innovation with its IGEL OS, management platform and its portfolio of products like UD Pocket which is saving customers deploying the software millions of dollars in end user client device management costs.

"IGEL has something that is scaring the daylights out of our competitors: a very mature Linux operating system that is more secure, easier to manage and that converts existing infrastructure and makes it work better," said Ayres. "Look at the economics. We're giving customers the best OS and management solution and you can put it on existing x86 hardware. Our competitors are focused on hardware. We are focused on software and managing endpoints at scale. When we started this transformation two years ago nobody could have imagined this small thin client company in Germany becoming the disruptive software defined powerhouse we are today."

IGEL is picking up the pace on its endpoint innovation offensive with breakthroughs like the NVIDIA deal which puts the IGEL OS on a 64-bit ARM-based NVIDIA Jetson platform, said Ayres.

"For the endpoint market, this is the equivalent of putting a man on the moon," said Ayres. "This brings NVIDIA which is recognized for its compute power in the AI market together with IGEL for the endpoint OS and management platform. This deal really shows the euphoria we are seeing in the industry for IGEL software. No one in this market is delivering an ARM solution like this with enterprise grade performance. This collaboration with NVIDIA is going to really drive the VDI and internet of things market for us."

IGEL is set to unveil a partnership with Teradici that provides integration with AWS Workspaces through the Teradici PCoIP (PC over IP) protocol. "We see this AWS integration as a huge sales growth driver in 2019," said Ayres. "We already have big enterprise customers that want to deploy AWS Workspaces with IGEL. As soon as we turn this on we are going to see a floodgate of orders. This deal is an on-boarding path for hundreds of millions of x86 devices looking to tie into the AWS Workspaces solution. You are going to see fireworks in the AWS marketplace once this first ever Linux OS Workspaces solution is released in February."

IGEL is also announcing a new partnership to provide the IGEL OS on LG all-in-one thin clients. "LG is the leader in all-in-one, based on their strength in monitors and we are now working with LG to deliver an integrated best in class solution for virtualized environments and cloud workspaces," said Ayres. "These All-in-One solutions are very hot right now in education and healthcare."

Besides the new alliances, IGEL is ready to roll out a new MSP/Systems Integrator program that opens the door for partners to own IGEL software licenses with the ability to wrap those licenses into a wider endpoint managed services offering. "This is the future of the channel," said Ayres." This allows partners to build IGEL into cloud workspace solutions that the partners themselves own and manage. This is where the channel has to go. This is about partners orchestrating and managing services as trusted advisors."

Rob Green, the cofounder and CTO for Dizzion, a next-generation, born-in-the-cloud MSP that delivers an end-user cloud platform with its proprietary COSMOS (Cloud Orchestration Service Management Operations System), said he sees the IGEL MSP program as the biggest game changer for the channel.

"We're most excited about the MSP program which provides us with a service provider licensing model," he said. "This gives us the ability to immediately provision IGEL software licenses versus having to wait days to get those licenses. This is analogous to going from horse drawn carriages to cars. This expands what we can go after as a business. Now my licenses will be as dynamic and as fast as my business. That is huge. What has been hindering us from a growth standpoint will be gone now that IGEL has this MSP program This gives us the ability to scale our business and translates into better cost of goods sold, better margins. It makes for a healthier business. "

Green said Dizzion's IGEL sales grew at a 50 percent clip in 2018 and he expects to beat that growth rate this year. "With the new IGEL MSP program, there are no governors or hindrances to how fast we can grow," he said.

Michael Hogan, president of Hogan Consulting Group, a national endpoint solution provider headquartered in Chesterton, IN, said his IGEL sales were up 100 percent in 2018 and he expects even more dramatic growth in 2019. "We already have $2.5 million in our sales pipeline for this year and it's only the second week of the year," he said. "We have just had incredible success with IGEL. It is reducing cost and complexity for the customer. It's all about software. It's the Tesla of endpoint management. IGEL is a software driven company and that is really resonating with our customers."

Hogan also sees the new MSP program as the biggest revenue game-changer for partner. "Our managed services practice is growing at 100 percent year over year," he said. "This is going to allow us to add greater value to customers, distributing everything to our customers from a centralized location. It makes our business much more scalable."

Hogan credited Ayres for an IGEL software transformation that has changed the endpoint management landscape. "Jed gets that it's all about the software and the channel," he said. "They have the right person leading the company, the best product and they have the channel fully engaged. They are going to dominate. There is no question about it."

Carl Gersh, director of sales and marketing for Forthright Technology Partners, the IGEL partner of the year with three times the sales growth over 2017, said IGEL's software transformation has put IGEL in a completely different category than traditional hardware thin client vendors.

"IGEL has an operating system that accommodates any and all platforms, said Gersh. "The competition is nowhere near the capabilities, flexibility and choice that IGEL is giving customers. That is a huge selling point. IGEL's capability to manage endpoints is second to none. We are not talking about thin clients with customers with the IGEL solution. This is not a hardware discussion. It is about managing endpoints of any kind. None of the other thin client companies can compete in that regard. They are racing to the bottom selling thin clients cheaper and cheaper."

Gersh compared IGEL's software prowess to the operating system dominance Microsoft experienced in the eighties as the PC market exploded. "Microsoft was hugely successful compared to the hardware companies because they understood it was all about software," he said. "It didn't matter if it was an IBM, Compaq or Acer PC. It feels the same way with IGEL. They don't care what hardware it is. It is all about the IGEL OS. They get it. IGEL doesn’t care about the logo on the device. They just want to manage it. It's a case of IGEL inside."

Among the deals that Forthright closed in 2018 was a $1 million plus deal with a financial services company that was a key driver in a digital transformation initiative. "The key for that customer was simplicity of management and a drastic reduction in their IT labor costs," he said.

Gersh sees IGEL's momentum increasing in 2019 with the concept of intelligent workspace solution emerging in the endpoint market. "That concept is all about your apps, data and collaboration tools not tied to any specific device, but accessed through a variety of devices," he said. "That's a big shift with all of your applications and documents now accessible from a phone, thin client or home computer with the same experience no matter where you are. That increases the value of information technology and changes the idea that end user compute is tied to a specific device."

As a result of IGEL's success, distribution behemoth Ingram Micro has moved the company from its Emerging Vendor Group to its Vendor Management Group. Among the breakout vendors that have made that move at Ingram over the years are: Veeam, which just announced $500 million in funding to drive acquisitions and research and development; Nimble, which is changing the storage market with its InfoSight predictive analytics software and is now part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and cloud based data management and backup provider Acronis.

“We are seeing a lot of momentum with IGEL,” said James Veraldi, Executive Director of the Advanced Solutions Data Center Group for Ingram Micro. “In 2018, IGEL grew 70 percent with us, and 95 percent in the fourth quarter. That kind of growth is almost unheard of. IGEL gets the channel and are 100 percent channel focused. We think this will be a huge success story for both Ingram and IGEL in 2019.”

IGEL’s focus on delivering software innovation for secure endpoint management is resonating with Ingram Micro partners, said Veraldi. “They are 100 percent focused on secure, endpoint management in a market where security is top of mind for every CEO and CIO,” he said. “We see a very bright future working together with IGEL in the endpoint management market."

Ayres, for his part, said he sees the IGEL "Cinderella" story continuing with the company becoming the number one Linux OS based end user managed platform for cloud workspaces and virtualized environments. "We have the biggest and best VARs, SIs and MSPs in the world knocking down our door for our technology," he said. "They recognize IGEL is the right solution at the right time with the right people. We are staring down a sales pipeline like no other company. This is a perfect storm."