Egnyte Opens London-Area European HQs

Egnyte, Inc. detailed its European expansion plans to meet the growing customer demand for an enterprise-grade file sharing solution that addresses data security concerns.

With European regional revenues expected to account for 20% of Egnyte’s global revenues by the end of 2014, the company will open its London-area European HQs and plans to increase local hires by up to 100 staff over the next five years.

It will also expand its partner and channel networks across the region. Roster of customers in Europe includes Bowmer and Kirkland, Inter-Ikea, M&C Saatchi, Made.com, Mothercare, Red Bull and Tereos.

According to a January 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. report, the global tech market will grow by 5.5% in local currencies in 2014 with a 2.9% increase in tech spending across Western and Central Europe to $349 billion, rising another 6% to $369 billion by 2015. European customers contributed 15% of Egnyte’s global revenues in 2013 and, with an initial focus on the key European markets, the company expects to grow regional revenues in 2014 through both direct and channel sales.

 To drive the company’s European efforts, Egnyte has hired Mark R. Rattley as VP and GM for Egnyte Europe. He most recently worked at EMC as VP sales for EMEA and brings thirty years of enterprise software experience to this key role. By the end of this year, the new London-area office will also house 20-25 sales and marketing professionals who will provide local support to existing customers and help grow footprint across Europe.

European-based companies have expressed widespread concerns about putting their most sensitive data into the cloud due to recent revelations about PRISM and other widespread data breaches. Egnyte’s hybrid file-sharing model empowers customers of all sizes to securely access, share and store 100% of their business files, from any device at any time, no matter where that file actually resides – whether it’s in the cloud or behind a secure firewall. And for European businesses reluctant to entrust their data to a US-based data center, customers can opt to use Egnyte’s data center in Amsterdam for the files they choose to put in the cloud.

In order to better understand regional market needs and concerns, Egnyte will also engage with its customer advisory board that includes senior executives from European businesses and will continue to expand relationships with security-focused partners. The first of these new partnerships is with UK-based software security firm Sophos Ltd. Egnyte has integrated Sophos’ SafeGuard enterprise encryption and anti-virus software into its file sharing solution. Other partnerships and alliances will be announced in coming months.

In addition to the new London office, Egnyte’s European presence includes a design and engineering team of 25 people in Poland focused on expanding the Egnyte solution with new features and security enhancements. The company plans to double the size of the team by the end of 2014.

“The combination of our award-winning security software with Egnyte’s industry-leading enterprise file sharing platform provides businesses with a truly -bullet-proof’ solution that can protect all of its data, while still providing easy access to 100% of its files for 100% of its users,” said Sophos CTO Gerhard Eschelbeck. “We are thrilled to see Egnyte expand its presence in Europe and look forward to working closely with them to deliver an unbeatable solution to customers across the region.”

“Businesses today demand solutions that are enterprise grade, yet provide virtually unlimited choice in terms of when, where and how work gets done,” said Rattley. “I believe Egnyte’s model, which combines the best of cloud and on-premise with unparalleled flexibility and security, will be the solution of choice for companies of all sizes across Europe and the rest of the globe.”
 
“Our expansion from Silicon Valley to the most vibrant tech hub in Europe is being driven by our customers,” said Vineet Jain, CEO, Egnyte. “Some of the earliest adopters of cloud storage are in the UK and these are among our most demanding customers in terms of security and bandwidth needs. It makes great sense for us to bring the advantages Egnyte offers in terms of on or off-cloud storage and ‘grown up’ enterprise capabilities right to their doorstep.“