The MSP channel program changes will be conducted over the next 12 months in a series of four rollouts aimed at helping SonicWall VARs get into managed services space while giving existing MSPs an added boost with financing and licensing.

Specifically, the latest rollout to SonicWall's MSP program will include a series of educational programs comprised of Webinars, whitepapers and training materials that provide everything from how to enter the managed services space to the technology and financial resources needed to sustain the business.

Partners say that the beefed-up trainings and educational materials provide a comprehensive guide that outlines processes, answers questions and dispels misconceptions for traditional solution providers just getting started in the managed services space.

"(Channel partners) realize there's a lot more money involved in getting something like this off the ground than they can afford to invest," said Ron Culler, chief technology officer for Greensboro, N.C.-based MSSP Secure Designs. "There's a lot to putting a managed security solution in place."

In subsequent months, enhancements to SonicWall's MSP program will incorporate increased flexibility to support new business models, which will include changes to licensing and financing options. For example, some of the forthcoming licensing changes will more accurately reflect the monthly managed services model, executives said.

"We expect the resellers to make up front investments and provide monthly charges to end customers. What we're trying to address is making the adjustments in our program licensing to resellers in the same method that they're charging their customers," said Marvin Blough, SonicWall vice president of channel sales.

The change comes in response to a weakened economy that altered purchasing plans, especially in the SMB space, as more customers with less capital gravitate toward a monthly billing cycle, executives said.

"There seems to be a trend, especially in the SMB market, where they'd much rather pay $500 a month instead of $15,000 today," Blough said. "We want to match how we're seeing people acquire product. They're more hesitant to make big capital purchases."

Anticipated changes to the MSP channel would also account for problems that occur when the end customer goes out of business but the reseller is still responsible to pay up-front costs to the vendor, Blough said.

Meanwhile, SonicWall MSP partners said that the managed service space has seen significant growth, despite the weak economy that has shrunk budgets and crippled pending IT projects.

SonicWall executives said that the MSP program itself, which was initiated four years ago, has seen success, but was lacking in certain areas, which included a specific business model for some of the smaller resellers wanting to adopt managed services into their portfolios.

"We've had high adoption rates among our channel partners -- large players that are operating managed services, down to smaller gold and silver resellers," Blough said. "Almost all vendors are lacking in the business model side of this. That's what we're trying to address."

Culler said that SonicWall's partner program is geared more toward traditional resellers, as the company has offered special SKUs and pricing that enabled Secure Designs to offer services around the technology. "We've done well, even in this economy," Culler said, adding that Secure Designs provided services around more than 2,000 devices in the field in 30 states and five countries. "The majority of that is SonicWall," he said.

Executives said that the rollouts are ultimately aimed at driving SonicWall's managed services businesses and getting more resellers to migrate toward that space. Currently, about 15 percent to 20 percent of SonicWall partners provide managed services, but executives said that they expect that figure to grow to more than 30 percent in the next two years.