Naz Sibaei (Globalnet Solutions Australia)
Two years ago, Globalnet Solutions registered a deal to complete a $1 million migration of A10 boxes for NBN Co, a deal that quickly turned sour, it is alleged by the IT managed service provider's CEO, Naz Sibaei.
According to Sibaei's account of what happened after an agreement was struck, Globalnet was said to be fully assured of a deal that could prove a gamechanger for the small IT provider and reseller.
However, it is claimed by Sibaei that amid COVID-19 disruption and role changes at NBN Co, Globalnet Solutions’ connection to its customer suddenly went dead – only to find the deal had been handed to ViaSat, according to the CEO.
Having experienced this blowback multiple times over his 30-year career, this was one disappointment too many for Sibaei.
Speaking to ARN, Sibaei said smaller partners getting cut out of significant deals is endemic in Australia's IT reseller scene but too few are choosing to speak up about it.
"It's happened across every vendor," he said. "After two years of work, we were paid nothing."
Sibaei began working with A10's team in Singapore on the NBN Co migration at the end of 2019. Claiming to have registered the deal and scoped the process, Sibaei said Globalnet was seemingly set to replace NBN Co's out-of-support A10 AX3030 with the new A10 TH3040 devices and provide migration services onsite.
Globalnet also negotiated with A10 Networks to support NBN Co's existing devices for a warranty period of 90 days while the migration took place, it is claimed.
Sibaei said he was assured by A10 that Globalnet exclusively had the deal and was assured it had the best price.
However, final approval for the deal took a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sibaei. And by the end of 2021, the CEO claimed, he still hadn't received an answer when he discovered his point of contact had left NBN Co.
Sibaei said he continued emailing the next point of contact he had been given, first to be told the project was with NBN Co's engineering team. And then, the line went dead, Sibaei claimed.
Having sent several unanswered emails, it is alleged, it took another member of NBN Co's team to inform Sibaei that the deal had instead been passed to satellite builder ViaSat, which was said to be providing a turnkey solution.
"We had fully scoped the project; we knew what needed to be done. It was an upgrade: migrate from the old box to the new box," Sibaei said. "There wasn't a lot behind it and a turnkey was not even mentioned. We have been screwed over once again."
For its part, A10 has claimed that ViaSat is its customer, not a global partner.
"It [ViaSat] provides satellite internet for homes, small businesses and aviation and we are aware that NBN [Co] is a customer of ViaSat’s," A10 said in a statement to ARN. "We are unsure how Globalnet considers ViaSat a competitor in the IT managed services market."
Regardless, Sibaei's version of the series of events has been corroborated by other sources involved in the project. An A10 source also told ARN that the final deal was signed off outside of Singapore.
Having lost the deal, Sibaei is now resigned to the fact that there is little to be done at this stage. A10, he claimed, is "adamant" Globalnet was not ousted from the deal, while the associated distributor, Exclusive Networks, informed him it believed ViaSat to be the end-user.
But events like this put a toll on small IT businesses, Sibaei said, and they are far too common than is known.
Having previously won reseller of the year for one prominent security vendor, Sibaei claimed the unnamed vendor took all the renewals away from Globalnet for itself in a matter of two years.
"They screwed us over on a big deal," he said. "Then I started jumping up and down. After that, they took every big renewal away from us. We used to do about $1 million deals with them and now we do under $20,000."
Globalnet was also the incumbent partner on a hardware contract for a Victoria-based residential home provider. However, when the renewal came, Sibaei claimed, the deal was handed to the vendor's preferred partner, a prominent global player.
"They were handed the deal worth half a million solely because they were a bigger partner," he said. "Large partners continually get preferential treatment.
"[Large vendors] keep kicking the small partners and keep feeding the big partners," he added. "For us, unless we start closing these big deals, we are never going to grow. If I had got that $1 million deal with NBN Co, I would have hired three people like that. By losing these deals, our growth prospects are quite low.
"It’s almost like [the vendors] want us serving the smaller end of town and for us not to win these big deals."
In a statement to ARN, an NBN Co spokesperson said: "We don’t comment on suppliers or the outcome of the commercial quotation process with a supplier, as those relationships and discussions are commercial in confidence. We also cannot comment on how a supplier manages the costs associated with providing quotes, as that is a commercial matter for them.
"It is important to also point out that NBN Co has mandated policies around its procurements, which it is obliged to follow."
Exclusive Networks also added that integrity and trust are the bedrocks of its partner ecosystems.
"We work hard every single day to create value for our channel partners and their success is paramount to us. This is where our focus is and we would never do anything to undermine that," a spokesperson said.
ViaSat did not provide commentary on the matter.
