VAR Reaction Mixed After SonicWall's Channel Chief Leaves

Recent executive shifts at SonicWall could lead some VARs to reconsider stronger channel ties with the company after John DiLullo stepped down last week as vice president of worldwide sales. The gap left by DiLullo's abrupt departure Friday was immediately filled by Marvin Blough, an eight-year SonicWall veteran who had been working on channel sales overseas.

While asserting that the decision to leave was "definitely not a surprise" to some, DiLullo hailed Blough as the right choice for the job. "We've been grooming Marvin and he's done an excellent job leading the organization to the next level," he said.

DiLullo declined to comment on whether he was asked to leave, however the former channel chief said that he left the company on good terms and maintained that he and CEO Matt Medeiros "agreed that this was the right time for me to move on."

"It was an amazing two years. I feel like a lot of my work there is done," DiLullo said.

However, some VARs, expressed that channel relations over the last several years at SonicWall were less than ideal and presented challenges that significantly affected their companies.

Lou Rubbo, principal at Colorado-based DirSec, said that SonicWall's channel program suffered in recent years with unbalanced pricing models, which ultimately resulted in lost business for his company.

"Historically their channel program has been uneven," said Rubbo. "We've lost way too many deals on price."

In light of recent executive shifts, Rubbo said that he remained hopeful and would continue the existing partnership with SonicWall. "We'll continue to work with them and we'll make another run," he added.

Conversely, other VARs said that their business ties remained strong with SonicWall over the last several years, with easy accessibility and good service.

"If I need to pick up the phone and call somebody, I don't have a problem with it," said Ron Culler, chief information officer of Secure Designs, a managed Internet service provider based in Greensboro, N.C. "They've been very, very receptive to any of the things that we've looked to do," adding that because of MSP relationship, "we don't typically interact with SonicWall within sales on the same level that the average partner would."

DiLullo said that during the last two years, SonicWall achieved numerous successes in many areas, saying the company doubled sales and deferred revenue, acquired and integrated four companies into the channel and also saw exponential sales increases in both Asia and Europe.

"In what were troubling markets, we really saw an explosion in the last two years," said DiLullo.

In addition, DiLullo said that the company rolled out new training certification programs, and began to attract VAR 500 partners, who were able to reach out to broader markets.

"The last two years were some of the best two years of the company," said DiLullo. "It's two years that I'm extremely proud of. We really helped a lot of our partners take their business to the next level."

DiLullo refrained from specifying where he might end up but said that he planned to take some time off before returning to channel sales.

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