08-07-2025
Comstor empowers partners with white-labelled managed SOC built on Cisco XDR
Comstor's new Managed SOC solution is enabling partners across EMEA—especially in the Middle East—to scale cybersecurity services without heavy upfront investment.
Cybersecurity has evolved into a mission-critical pillar for businesses navigating a complex threat landscape. Comstor's newly launched white-labelled Managed SOC (Security Operations Centre) built on Cisco's robust XDR platform provides channel partners with an agile route to market. By offering 24×7 monitoring, centralised management, and seamless integration, the solution empowers partners to deliver advanced threat detection and response under their own brand. In this exclusive dual interview, Steven Heinsius, Comstor EMEA Vice President, Product Management and Marketing, and Siva Kumar, Architecture Lead – Security, Cloud & AI, Managed Services, Comstor Saudi Arabia, share the strategic intent, partner-driven innovation, and regional relevance behind the launch.
Interview Excerpts:
We hear that Comstor has launched its first managed SOC (Security Operations Centre) offering for channel partners. Tell us more.
Steven Heinsius: Comstor is bringing to market a managed SOC offering that enables partners to tap into the fast-growing cybersecurity services market while avoiding the cost and complexity of building their own solution. It's the first managed SOC offering launched by Westcon-Comstor and the first to utilise Cisco XDR (Extended Detection and Response).
How does it work in practice? Will partners use Comstor branding when deploying this with their customers?
Steven Heinsius: We've purposefully designed this as a white-labelled solution, allowing partners to quickly and easily launch a SOC offering under their own brand. With the Managed XDR SOC from Comstor, partners have access to a single dashboard for efficient and centralised management, plus 24×7 support and monitoring from certified Comstor analysts and engineers, along with access to Cisco expertise.
What prompted you to develop this?
Steven Heinsius: Honestly, the driver for this has been partner demand. Many of our partners have been asking for this and we're really excited about announcing its availability. The opportunity in this space for partners is huge. The managed XDR market is set to be worth between $8 billion and $10 billion by 2030 in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) alone, as end-user businesses seek more comprehensive threat detection and response solutions to ensure compliance while handling an increasing volume of security alerts and growing attack surfaces.
What do you think is at the root of this demand from partners?
Steven Heinsius: Establishing a SOC involves significant initial investment and ongoing annualised costs. By deploying the Managed XDR SOC from Comstor, partners can save on these costs while sidestepping the technical and operational challenges associated with SOC development and maintenance, which can typically run to millions of dollars.
Do you see the Middle East as an important market for this solution?
Siva Kumar: Absolutely. It's available to partners across the EMEA region and we see lots of potential here in the Middle East, with its abundance of mid-sized Cisco partners who are ambitious and hungry for growth but keen to control costs at the same time.
What are the key commercial and strategic benefits for partners?
Siva Kumar: Our solution enables partners to build new recurring revenue streams through subscription-based models and ongoing service contracts. Partners can expand their service portfolio and provide comprehensive security solutions to end-users, unlocking new growth opportunities and increasing customer retention and loyalty.
And for their customers?
Siva Kumar: End-users will benefit from proactive protection, increased operational efficiency and enhanced resilience against evolving threats. Continuous, around-the-clock monitoring and superior visibility across security layers provides enhanced threat detection and faster response times.
Can you tell us more about Cisco XDR?
Siva Kumar: Cisco XDR harnesses multiple security layers (network, endpoint, server, and cloud) and applies advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning to detect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats in real time. Built to be flexible, it integrates seamlessly with existing security architectures, including non-Cisco solutions, and can scale to meet the needs of organisations of all sizes.
