free780 Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 Livingston web security outfit Bloxx sold to US group - The Scotsman
gshaw Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 One less option to choose from in the education filtering product range, sounds like Akamai want Bloxx's tech for corporate products. Doubt education will be high on their priority list reading the gist of the press release.
russdev Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) That is an interesting development is true number are pulling out the education market. As I understand it there is still another big name to pull out of education market at somepoint in the future.. Russ Edited November 3, 2015 by russdev
themightymrp Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Got this email from Bloxx last night, thought I'd post it mainly for the FAQ link for those people currently using or thinking of buying a Bloxx filter. Dear Bloxx Customer We are happy to share with you the news that Bloxx is now part of Akamai Technologies, the global leader in Content Delivery Network (CDN) services. Akamai makes the Internet fast, reliable and secure for its customers. As apart of the Akamai family, Bloxx remains fully committed to serving our customers to ensure that you continue to receive the highest level of technical support and customer service. All existing customer contracts will be fully honored until the expiration of their current term. However, the current Bloxx product set will no longer be available for sale or refresh. In addition, as a result of Bloxx now becoming a part of the Akamai family, renewals will only be offered until January 31, 2016. We understand you may have a number of questions relating to this change in ownership and we are fully committed to ensuring we provide timely and comprehensive answers. In the meantime you can find some useful FAQ's [url="http://bloxx.us9.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=378dbf20140bbf681aa378351&id=ca11253533&e=6d37916507"]here[/url]. For any technical issues, please continue to use the existing Bloxx technical support and customer service ticket, email and phone options – these remain the same. If you would like to schedule a time for a more detailed discussion, please submit a request by emailing [email][email protected][/email] and we will reply as soon as possible. Thank you again for your patience as we transition into this new and exciting chapter in our company’s history. Regards, Charles Sweeney CEO, Bloxx
Heebeejeebee Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Yeah - and we've literally just signed a 3 year contract. Not a head's up even. They say they'll honour contractual obligations but indicate the product will become obsolete soon. Watch this space I guess. FAQ HBJB
themightymrp Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 What do you think the chance are that they'll just re-brand the product as "Akamai Web Filter"? Same product essentially with a new brand logo? We really like our Bloxx appliance and have found their support to be first rate, I'd hate to think we may be losing that.
gshaw Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Looks like a dead product walking, some features probably being folded into an Akamai corporate product sometime next year which they'll sell us at an inflated price no doubt.
rpmoore Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) A big problem selling into education is that customers are no longer loyal to a supplier or vendor, and everything largely comes down to price. Of course we all understand the pressures on budgets, but sellers need to get enough out of a deal to ensure that as a business they are still around to support customers over the life of a multi-year contract. Smoothwall, Bloxx and Lightspeed have been fighting to the bottom of the barrel for years, and if that vendor only operates in the edu space then something has to give way at some point. I can only guess Akamai's plans for Bloxx Edited November 3, 2015 by elsiegee40 Marketing removed
Edu-IT Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Seems a slightly odd strategy to have such vague information on a release that is undoubtedly going to cause concern to customers.
DGardiner Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) dodged a bullet with that one, was my #2 choice a couple of months back when renewals were up... I think you need to just calm it down a little. why? security and content filtering is a ever developing arena - it can't be life supported and expect to get the service you bought into at the end of the day Edited November 3, 2015 by DGardiner
localzuk Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 I think you need to just calm it down a little. Seems pretty calm to me - Bloxx has, without warning, stopped selling their product and been sold to another company with no indication beyond contractual obligations of any future continuation of service. I'd say that Smoothwall is right on the money here.
clockend25 Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 He's just pitching for business lads. - - - Updated - - - Although ironically Bloxx first came to people's attention a few years ago when they employed similar tactics one year at BETT.
themightymrp Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Can we get any information from the Bloxx reps on here? @grant_girdwood ???
Net-Ctrl Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 For any Bloxx customers that would like to look at what else is available on the market, we're a top tier iboss partner and would be happy to discuss the solution in more detail on a one-to-one webinar and provide some pricing
gshaw Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) Given that Bloxx were trying to sell us into a 3-year renewal very recently I don't think Smoothwall's response is too far off the mark. Very, very glad we gave our 90 days notice in recently while we were testing other solutions. The fact Akamai are only offering 1-year renewals says a lot. Probably hardware support only with minimal product work and likely the (excellent) support team being given their marching orders as corporate structure takes over. Reading articles elsewhere it seems the venture capital behind Bloxx have cashed in on their investment. Not sure how much choice the company had in the takeover but it's happened now so we have to pick up the pieces. Edited November 3, 2015 by gshaw
Edu-IT Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Someone's coming across as desperate! Desperate isn't a good thing...
DrCheese Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) I think this is a shame, I wasn't overly impressed with Bloxx both times I had a demo (3 years apart) as it seemed very basic in comparison to smoothwall, but less competition means less incentive to improve & high prices for us all. Not sure Smoothwall are handling this rather well, given that it could have been them being bought out (& also it being known for a long time in advance) The fact of the matter is that Bloxx will have known that this was coming for a long time and they have been trying to bring new customers on and renew existing customers. ok... but any company that's being bought out would be doing the same, i.e carrying on as normal until details are finalised and made public. If the deal fell through the company would have to continue existing as before Edited November 3, 2015 by DrCheese
Opendium_Steve Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 This certainly doesn't leave much time for folks to shop around for a replacement system if they were expecting to renew shortly after January...
Opendium_Steve Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 I think this is a shame, I wasn't overly impressed with Bloxx both times I had a demo (3 years apart) as it seemed very basic in comparison to smoothwall, but less competition means less incentive to improve & high prices for us all. I always got the impression that they were much more interested in the corporate market and the education market was just a easy "extra" for them. Their prices certainly weren't great last time I looked. ok... but any company that's being bought out would be doing the same, i.e carrying on as normal until details are finalised and made public. If the deal fell through the company would have to continue existing as before If it were me, I would provide much more concrete details to the existing customers in the first announcement, so that they can plan for the future. If the deal falls through, they would have to continue existing as before, but their announcement has served to create a lot of uncertainty which could have been avoided and it will be hard for them to win back that trust should they need to.
Opendium_Steve Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 A big problem selling into education is that customers are no longer loyal to a supplier or vendor, and everything largely comes down to price. Not true in my experience. We may not always be the cheapest, but we have customers who stick with us year after year because they know they can rely on us to dig them out of a hole when it hits the fan (and none of this is because they are tied into multi-year contracts - all of our contracts are annual). 1
SchoolsBroadband Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 Not true in my experience. We may not always be the cheapest, but we have customers who stick with us year after year because they know they can rely on us to dig them out of a hole when it hits the fan (and none of this is because they are tied into multi-year contracts - all of our contracts are annual). I agree with this too. Sure there's price pressures but people will pay for a service they want and do what they require. They won't always just go cheaper if it doesn't do what is required. 1
gshaw Posted November 3, 2015 Posted November 3, 2015 End of the day it's a question of getting best value for the solution. If a supplier is giving good service and the product fits out needs costs can be justified. However if a supplier tries to be sneaky and push up prices thinking we don't check they'll soon get caught out and our business then goes elsewhere.
Opendium_Steve Posted November 4, 2015 Posted November 4, 2015 Might be a further indication that Bloxx are indeed pulling out of the education sector entirely - they "liked" a tweet we made inviting their educational customers to contact us. Not something I expect they'd do if they were hoping to retain their schools!
gshaw Posted November 4, 2015 Posted November 4, 2015 (edited) I think the email and FAQ are pretty clear that the Bloxx appliance is dead as a product offering. The reseller who was dealing with our renewal said it's no longer being sold as of 2nd November. Akamai might use some of the technology as a cloud service but not for a while at least. I also somehow doubt the pricing will be aimed at education when an offering is released. Edited November 4, 2015 by gshaw
fiza Posted November 5, 2015 Posted November 5, 2015 That is an interesting development is true number are pulling out the education market. As I understand it there is still another big name to pull out of education market at somepoint in the future.. Russ Who might this be? It would be good to know in case people end up in the same situation as some are with Bloxx.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now