Incapsula, a Redwood Shores, Calif.-based website security and performance service provider, launched a new partner program Tuesday that pays percentages to participating Web hosting partners that function as affiliates to the Incapsula cloud-based Website Protection and Acceleration service.

"We are including the Web hosting provider community in our ecosystem," said company co-founder Marc Gaffan. "With the Web hosting company involved in the process, it makes the setup process much easier for the end customer. By installing a plug-in that we provide, the on-boarding process becomes a one-click process."

Incapsula offers a cloud-based service that protects and accelerates websites. The configuration process involves a change to the DNS settings that enables the service to function as "a mega proxy in the cloud," according to Gaffan. "All traffic coming through your website first goes through our network. It is inspected so we know that no one is trying to hack your website. And then we cache and optimize your website content on our network and deliver it to the end user in an optimized format. Typically your website will improve by 50 percent or more in terms of speed."

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In addition to offering greater speed and security for the customer, the service is also intended to reduce overhead for the hosting provider by both reducing server load and using bandwidth efficiently. The resulting savings, according to Gaffan, factor into the bottom line.

To further support the new program, Incapsula has also developed a new plug-in for cPanel, a widely used graphical, Web-based control panel for the management of websites and hosting accounts.

Both partners and customers can use this platform to track security and performance statistics, modify settings and receive notifications from the management console. A multitenant portal supports account creation, security management, performance settings and billing reports. Commissions are based on a 25 percent multiple, according to Gaffan.

PUBLISHED OCT. 23, 2012