HAT signs exclusive Tailscale distribution deal in Oceania

HAT Distribution has signed an exclusive distribution partnership with Tailscale across Oceania, covering Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

The deal adds Tailscale's secure connectivity platform to HAT's security portfolio as businesses reassess how they connect staff, devices, services and infrastructure across cloud and hybrid environments.

Tailscale uses a peer-to-peer mesh model to create direct encrypted links between systems. That contrasts with older virtual private network setups built around central gateways and hub-and-spoke architecture, which many organisations have relied on for remote access and network connectivity.

HAT will provide local technical support and enablement to partners across the region, helping resellers and service providers deploy the platform more quickly for customers seeking alternatives to legacy VPN environments.

The partnership comes as companies manage increasingly distributed IT estates, including multicloud deployments, hybrid infrastructure and systems linked to artificial intelligence tools. Those shifts have increased pressure on security teams to manage access controls across a broader mix of users, environments and workloads.

Beyond core networking, Tailscale has expanded into adjacent areas such as privileged access and AI governance. HAT said the broader platform gives partners a path into managed services spanning secure access, workload connectivity and infrastructure controls.

For engineering and DevOps teams, the platform is designed to provide access to infrastructure, clusters and environments without conventional VPN architecture. HAT said that gives partners scope to build services around secure access while reducing some of the operational burden associated with older network models.

Josh Gammer, Director of HAT Distribution, said the agreement reflects a broader shift in customer demand. "Organisations are looking for simpler ways to securely connect users, devices, and distributed systems across cloud and hybrid environments," Gammer said. "Tailscale delivers that with a much cleaner approach - one that's built around identity, not network boundaries."

Gammer also highlighted the relevance of the platform's broader product set as customers review access management and controls around AI use. "As Tailscale expands into privileged access and AI governance, partners have a practical way to help customers modernise secure access and infrastructure controls on a shared foundation of identity, policy, and connectivity. It opens the door for new managed services and gives customers a faster path to modernising their environments," he said.

Regional push

For HAT, the exclusive arrangement adds a new product to take to its channel base across Oceania at a time when distributors are seeking to deepen their role in security and infrastructure markets. Rather than simply supplying software, distributors are increasingly supporting partners with technical training, architectural advice and service development.

For Tailscale, the deal provides a regional route to market through a specialist distributor with an established presence in Australia and New Zealand. HAT describes itself as an Australian-based value-added distributor focused on security, IT operations and infrastructure, with an emphasis on technical support for partners.

The agreement is aimed at demand for simpler secure connectivity as customers move away from more complex legacy environments. In practice, that means connecting users and systems across on-premise infrastructure, public cloud services and hybrid estates without relying on a traditional perimeter model.

Tailscale Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Avery Pennarun said many older approaches are poorly suited to newer IT environments. "Tailscale takes a different approach: make networking simple, reliable, and invisible to the user," Pennarun said.

He said HAT was chosen for its experience building services around specialist platforms. "HAT has a solid track record of building services around platforms that work this way, which puts us in a good position to help partners across Oceania move off legacy models and onto something much better," Pennarun said.