Island Looks To Expand Partner Base With MSP-Friendly Secure Browser

The company worked with an MSP to develop a ‘unique’ multitenant version and pricing for the MSP-focused Island browser offering, Island’s channel chief tells CRN.

Island is seeking to expand beyond the enterprise through an MSP-focused version of its secure browser, developed in concert with an MSP partner, executives told CRN.

The recently launched MSP-friendly Island secure browser is aimed at helping to bring Island’s technology to partners and customers that don’t have the same resources of an enterprise but many of the same security needs, said Keith Weatherford, vice president of worldwide channel sales at Island.

“Once you get below 100 users, or below 500 users quite honestly, they want the same security controls and capabilities of Citi or JPMorganChase but they obviously don’t all have the staff to do it,” Weatherford said. “What we provide gives them the ability to take advantage of all the [enterprise] controls but allows them to do it without a lot of the complexity that you see in the enterprise space.”

Island offers a secure workplace-focused web browser built on Chromium, the Island Enterprise Browser, which provides a range of capabilities for protecting data and users automatically embedded within the browser itself. Capabilities include protection against web-based threats, conditional access controls and zero-trust network access to private apps.

Earlier this year, Island began transitioning one of its top MSP partners, Irvine, Calif.-based Greenlight Cyber, into a multitenant version of its secure browser as a pilot for the idea, according to Weatherford.

Island worked with Greenlight Cyber to develop the multitenant version and monthly pricing for the MSP-focused Island browser offering, executives said.

The move was such a success that Greenlight Cyber has now taken a leading role in bringing the MSP-focused Island offering to other MSPs, according to Jason Makevich, founder and CEO of Greenlight Cyber as well as the new entity focused on delivering MSP enablement around Island, PORT1.

Along with monthly pricing, no minimums and multitenant management, MSPs can get “full marketing, sales, service and support enablement,” Makevich said. “So we go deep with them. We will train them. We will teach them how to be very successful selling and supporting it.”

With so many businesses having moved to SaaS at this point, Island offers MSPs the ability to “rearchitect the environment” and eliminate many existing products, he said.

“MSPs are overwhelmed with all the different tools that they have to incorporate into their stack and support and sell,” Makevich said. “Every single conversation an MSP has with their client today is about upselling cybersecurity, and that just shouldn’t have to be. An MSP should be a source of innovation for their clients. It’s just not even tenable anymore.”

“We’re really giving MSPs a new way of delivering technology to their clients that is secure by design,” he said. “And by doing that, we can reduce the attack surface, simplify the cybersecurity stack, simplify the service delivery and really streamline the productivity and operational efficiency of the users.”

‘A Unique Space’

The MSP expansion comes as Dallas-based Island, which was founded in 2020 by veterans of Symantec, continues to see significant growth overall as well as interest from investors. Island announced raising a $250 million Series E funding round in March that brought the company’s valuation to $4.8 billion, up from $3 billion in April 2024.

Along with continuing to drive growth in the enterprise, Island believes the company has uncovered a massive opportunity—working with MSPs to reach smaller customers—that has not been recognized by other providers of secure browsers, Weatherford said.

In part this is because it takes significant investment to build the necessary product capabilities to support an MSP’s business, he noted.

Now that this work has been done, however, “we are seeing a lot of MSP alignment,” Weatherford said. “I do think that’s a unique space for us.”