Ipswitch Launches New Professional Services Program

The company, which makes file-transfer, e-mail and instant messaging products, is in the process of recruiting partners for its new professional services program, said Tony Luzza, director of worldwide channels for Ipswitch. The Lexington, Mass., company made the announcement at the XChange 2003 conference in Orlando. (XChange is sponsored by CRN parent company CMP Media.)

Ipswitch, which is in the process of tailoring its products to fit into a professional services portfolio, aims to officially launch the professional services program in October, said Luzza. "We are looking to add on to our existing core products to make them more attractive to integrators and developers," he said. "We are looking for partners that deal in specific verticals."

Ipswitch is starting slowly with a plan to sign four or five professional services partners in the United States to provide professional services in education, health care, government and financial. "As we grow, we'll add more and more," Luzza said.

Ipswitch is targeting regional professional services providers, a step below players such as EDS and Accenture, he said.

Ipswitch has also added a new third tier level to its partner program, which it refers to as an authorized Ipswitch partner. There is no minimum sales requirement for the authorized partners who will source product from the company's distributor Tech Data. The minimum sales volume for the top tier partner is $2,500 per month in sales. The minimum sales volume on the second tier Select partner is $1,000 per month. Ipswitch has 20 active premier partners and 75 select second tier partners, said Luzza.

Ipswitch has also beefed up its channel program with additional co-op funding, online training, and an internal Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system. Also added is a Web presence for the channel program and a new partner manager and channel marketing manager to its staff, said Luzza.

Ipswitch is looking to increase the percentage of channel sales significantly, Luzza said. About 65 percent of the company's sales come from the channel and the company wants to increase sales by as much as 30 percent. "We've been growing and profitable," he said. "Not too many companies have been able to do that."