Mailprotector Offers Hosted Security Alternative

Company:

Headquarters: Greer, S.C.

Technology Sector: Security

Key Product: Mailprotector

Year Founded: 1999

Number of Channel Partners: 175 worldwide

Ideal Channel Partner: Midmarket-focused solution provider

Why You Should Care: High-touch e-mail security vendor with almost 10 years experience launches its first official channel program.

The Lowdown: With spam now accounting for more than 80 percent of inbound messages, more VARs and MSPs are looking for a hosted, inexpensive solution to cut through the junk. Mailprotector, from VirtualConnect Technologies, can be that solution, according to CEO David Setzer, because it focuses strictly on e-mail security, and it's nimble enough to provide valuable support to the smallest resellers.

The company launched its first official channel program in March this year, after having supported channel partners on an ad-hoc basis prior to that, Setzer said. "Our VARs pick up the phone and call us. Over 50 percent of support issues are not issues with our service; they're usually related to customer e-mail. Our support guys help VARs with related issues, but not our issues. That's how we define the service," Setzer said.

Mailprotector's ability to focus on mail-specific issues allows it to react quicker than competitors that have more general offerings, Setzer said.

"A couple years ago, there was a vulnerability identified in zip files. We saw the same thing with encrypted JAR files. We banned JAR files. It took antivirus companies three days to come up with a fix. Our customers didn't know it happened," Setzer said. "We'd taken steps to prevent it beforehand. We don't ask customers to know if they should ban JARs or TARs because a lot of them wouldn't know."

Mailprotector has created standard pricing, independent of the size of the customer and lets the VAR dictate its price to the end user, Setzer said.

"[They can] bundle it or sell it as stand-alone. We had a survey that over 75 percent charge at or above our retail for the service," Setzer said. "As they grow their customer base, it really incentivizes them to grow the margin."

Mailprotector has a low barrier to entry and it has a new console that is in beta with VARs now that is designed to be effective for customers as small as two users and as large as enterprises with thousands of employees, Setzer said.

"If you're a VAR with two customers, you're going to make money. We'll take all sizes, so to speak," Setzer said. "We had one partner look at a competitor one time and they said, 'this other company will give us two days free training.' Our response was, 'you shouldn't need two days of training.' The way we designed it is like a utility: you plug it in and it works," Setzer said. "There are no specific technical requirements, and we set up accounts in about two hours."