Sophos Sweetens Deal For Partners

The new program offers an automatic 20 percent margin to new and existing partners, as well as quarterly rebates based on new business quotas that are more attainable, said deMarie Malnar, channel manager at Sophos, based here.

"We want to reward partners that have stuck with us and have done a good job and also inspire others to work with us," she said.

Sophos has 750 solution provider partners in the United States, and many focus on the small and midsize business markets, she said. The new quarterly rebates are designed to be more attainable to those partners selling to companies with fewer than 250 users.

A partner that brings in $2,500 in new business per quarter will receive a rebate of 2.5 percent. Those who do $5,000 in new business per quarter receive 5 percent. Certified Partners have higher quotas and are eligible to earn rebates of 5 percent to 10 percent.

The average price of a 100-seat site license for Sophos software is about $30 per seat.

"We want to make sure we're giving more margin than others in our space, and because we're single tier--we don't go through any large distribution house--resellers retain all of that margin," Malnar said.