Content security vendor, Clearswift, has parted company with its sole Australian distributor, itX, to concentrate on direct relationships with resellers.

Clearswift managing director, Peter Croft, said it was an amicable split and that distribution was not the right channel model for the vendor.

"They [itX] really did go the extra mile to try and make it work," he said. "We found that we didn't get enough focus when they had other competing brands in their portfolio such as Secure Computing and Trend Micro. Finding that unique space in their channel was difficult."

The vendor signed on itX in June 2006 as its first local distributor to aggressively grow its reseller base.

itX general manager, Greg Newham, said Clearswift was a small part of the distributor's business.

"There are no hard feelings. We are still working together with them on some parts of the business," he said. "To some degree we are still going to be looking after sales, service and maintenance for them."

itX will still support the Pipeline campaign, which is a marketing support tool developed for resellers, Newham said.

Croft said he would not look for another distributor to replace itX, but had signed up the distributor's services arm, NeXos as a premium partner.

"They are trained and they have got a support desk. They are also very committed to a new business target," he said. "We are engaging directly with our premium partners, which is the model we had prior to the itX relationship."

Clearswift's other premium partners include TLC, Loop Technology and Dimension Data.

Croft is currently recruiting more premium partners and also wants to boost the company's associate partner numbers. The vendor has about 20 associate partners.

"I think our sweet spot is between 30-50 associate partners. We like to make sure that we keep it at a manageable size," he said.

Clearswift will hold training courses for resellers across its product portfolio in March and April. Dates are: Sydney - March 12, 13, 26-27; Melbourne - March 18-19, April 1-2.