Security Vendor Lands First North American Distributor

The company has signed on Alternative Technology (Alt Tech) to distribute its product line in the United States and Canada.

Following the March 2007 launch of its partner program, the deal secures ArcSight's first North American distributor and represents the latest move in an ongoing push to shift its focus towards channel sales.

"ArcSight, lets face it, just came from a totally direct model," said Victor Dellovo, CEO of ArcSight channel partner ModComp Systems & Solutions in Deerfield Beach, Fla. "The channel program is new--it's in its infancy stages. They're hiring people, but they still don't have that many feet on the street. So Alt Tech is another resource for us."

Both companies emphasized the overlap between ArcSight's product portfolio, which focuses on security information and event management as well as associated regulatory compliance, and Alt Tech's partner base, which is largely comprised of security and networking solutions providers.

"They have a lot of resellers that have a network integration focus--a lot of Juniper [Networks] and Cisco[Systems] resellers," said Tom Reilly, COO of ArcSight, Cupertino, Calif. "Our networking appliance products really compliment their portfolio. They're also helping us identify those resellers that have a security focus, especially those that are focused on regulatory compliance initiatives like SOX and PCI."

According to Alt Tech President and CEO Bill Botti, this overlap has been enhanced by recent ArcSight efforts to extend its reach from the enterprise into smaller companies.

"As ArcSight began to build a partner program that had some teeth in it that would be able to excite the channel, we looked at their technology and how it overlaid with our internal compliance initiatives," he said. "We saw kind of a hole in our security solution as it related to some of these compliance issues. As they began to move down into the midmarket and subsequently down into the PCI market, things gelled and it was like, 'OK, now this makes a lot of sense for both of us. How can we get this rockin'?'"

Dellovo sees the deal as a significant boost for ArcSight's existing channel partners. "No offense to some of the other distributors, but Alt Tech's very focused, they have well trained people. ArcSight is putting together all the pieces it needs for a good channel."