Security Vendor Blue Coat Targets SMB With Tech Data Deal

Enterprise security vendor Blue Coat Systems is turning to Tech Data to help it take its technology to the small and midsize market.

The company plans to unveil Monday an agreement making Clearwater, Fla.-based Tech Data the exclusive distributor of a new line of products targeted at the SMB space.

Blue Coat in late June released its first SMB product, Spyware Interceptor, a 1U appliance designed for 50 to 1,000 users that blocks spyware at the gateway.

The company plans to take more of its enterprise technology downstream in the next few months, said Cindy Kelly, vice president of North American channels for the Sunnyvale, Calif., vendor. To do that, the traditionally enterprise vendor needs to reach out to new VAR partners, she said.

“To compete effectively in the [SMB] space takes a different kind of reseller,” Kelly said. “Tech Data has the breadth of partners we are trying to reach.”

Blue Coat also has built a channel program around its two-tier SMB effort, Kelly said. The program includes seed units for partners, marketing kits, marketing funds, onlne training and lead fulfillment, she said.

Blue Coat chose to enter the SMB space with an antispyware product because “that’s where the pain is right now,” said Mike Menegay, president and CEO of Software Medium, a Dallas solution provider that participated in beta testing Spyware Interceptor. “Antispyware is a very hot market, so it’s a good way to get into the SMB side of the business,” he said.

Menegay said Spyware Interceptor is easy to install and competitively priced. “They have done a good job of transporting their high-end technology into a lower end offering,” he said. “The technology works very well and very efficiently.”

As Blue Coat rolls out more products for the SMB space, Menegay said he would like to see the company offer all of the available functions in a single platform.

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