Before global reach, international awards and cloud-based labs and learning that characterise Red Education today, there was Daniel Storey, a few battered boxes of hardware, and a busy flight schedule that spanned Australia and New Zealand. Two decades later, the company that once carried its classrooms on planes has become a global leader in cybersecurity education.
Over the past 20 years, Red Education has weathered every kind of challenge, from the global financial crisis to COVID-19 lockdowns and even a landlord’s demolition clause. Through it all, Daniel and the team have continued to build, adapt and grow. In this special anniversary interview, the founder looks back on the journey from those early days of excess baggage to a thriving international business delivering training every week across the globe, from APAC, SAARC and EMEA to the Americas.
Starting out
When Daniel Storey thinks back to 2005, he remembers a very different business.
“It was just me and Rob (Howard),” he says. “Rob was the sales rep, and I was the training delivery guy. It was mostly Australia and New Zealand back then. I’d gather a bunch of hardware, put it in boxes, take it on the plane, deliver the course, then bring it all home and repack it for the next week.”
Those boxes became part of Red Education legend. One in particular, a re-used vacuum cleaner box, became so worn that the courier finally refused to take it. “They warned us countless times,” Daniel laughs. “Eventually they just said, ‘We’re not sending that anymore.’ It had done its miles.”
The first big break
Before founding Red Education, Daniel was working for F5 Networks. “They offered me a training role, and I thought it sounded like a great opportunity,” he recalls. “I’d been working closely with the technology and knew it well, so the idea of helping others understand it really appealed to me.”
From there, he began delivering technical training across the Asia Pacific region, quickly spotting an opportunity to create a business that could deliver and sell training directly. “F5 was our first vendor, and our only vendor at the start,” he says.
Growth came as more technology vendors recognised the value of dedicated, high-quality training delivery. “We started to build relationships with other vendors who wanted a partner they could trust to represent their brand well,” Daniel explains. “That’s when things really started to move. One vendor led to another, and before long we were working with names like Fortinet, Riverbed, Palo Alto Networks and Check Point Software.”
“Palo Alto and Check Point have become our biggest vendors,” Daniel adds. “They’ve played a major part in the success of the business over the years.”
Expansion and evolution
Expansion followed quickly: Singapore in 2009, India by 2012, then into the United States and Europe. Around the same time, Red Education began to move away from physical labs. “Before virtual labs, we had real boxes,” Daniel explains. “Students used their laptops, but we supplied all the equipment, cables and plugs. It was a lot of excess baggage.”
By 2013 or so, the company had switched to virtual infrastructure. “We started with physical boxes that students could configure remotely, then moved to virtual appliances running on VMware. That was a big shift. It meant we could deliver training anywhere, and reuse the equipment, which was instrumental in our expansion.”
Red Education also moved into its first office around that time, a leased space in St Leonards, Sydney. “It was between 2010 and 2012,” Daniel says. “We signed a lease with a demolition clause, so we got it cheap! Then they demolished it a couple of years later, just as expected.” The head office of the growing business later relocated to North Sydney, where it remains today.
Weathering the storms
Over twenty years, Red Education has faced its share of global challenges. “The Great Recession in 2009 hit hard,” Daniel recalls. “Training is usually the first thing people cut from their budgets. But what actually happened for us was that companies let go of contractors and needed to skill up their internal staff instead. We were surprised to find that demand held steady.”
Then came COVID-19. “That changed everything,” he says. “We’d already been offering virtual training, but there was a lot of resistance to it, especially in Asia Pacific. When the pandemic hit, people had no choice but to go online. Suddenly it was accepted, and it’s stayed that way. It reduced costs, cut back the amount of travel our instructors needed to do, and made a big difference to our environmental footprint.”
A global presence
Today, Red Education delivers training every week across all major regions of the world, now including the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, as well as Australasia, Asia and India. “It’s a beast now,” Daniel says with a smile. “We’ve trained people in over 130 countries, which is pretty awesome. We’re expanding our reach in Europe and South America, where language skills are key, and we’re getting there.”
He credits much of the company’s growth to CEO Mike Baird, who joined to drive international expansion. “Mike really lifted the business,” Daniel says. “We’d looked at the US before, but he made it happen. His approach to building relationships and expanding into new regions has been huge for Red Education.”
Looking ahead
So what’s next? Daniel sees technology reshaping training again. “AI will definitely play a part, though I’m not sure exactly how yet. It’s going to change the way vendors design and deliver their programs, and we’ll need to stay agile as that evolves.”
After twenty years, one thing remains constant: Red Education’s commitment to helping people build their skills and careers. From the days of hauling hardware through airports to delivering training in 130-plus countries, Daniel’s vision of practical, high-quality education has stood the test of time.
“It’s been quite a journey,” he says. “From that beaten up packing box to where we are now — yes, I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved.”
