Security Sizzles at XChange Conference

Vendors such as Finjan, EMC's RSA Security division, SpectorSoft and ZyXEL Communications will all be on hand to recruit new partners. XChange '07 is run by CMP Technology, the parent company of ChannelWeb.

Secure Web gateway vendor Finjan this week at CMP XChange '07 is unveiling a new partner program in support of its plans to push all sales through the channel.

"We've made the strategic decision to go 100-percent channel, so we need to put in place the right mechanisms, tools and infrastructure for our channel partners," said Limor Elbaz, vice president of business development at Finjan, San Jose, Calif.

Finjan adopted its new channel sales strategy effective July 1 and is now recruiting new partners to supplement its existing base of several hundred North American solution providers, Elbaz said.

The vendor's Vital Security line of gateways provides content filtering services that protect SMB and enterprise customers from malicious Web traffic. It is priced at $20 per user per year.

Solution provider Vandis four months ago struck up a partnership with Finjan to add another layer of security technology to its portfolio, said President and CEO Andy Segal.

"Customers are more and more concerned about all of this malicious code that's out there, and they want to find a solution for it," Segal said.

The new Vital Security Partner Program, the vendor's first formalized channel program for its several hundred North American solution providers, stratifies partners into three tiers. Entry level Authorized partners are required to hit sales goals of $30,000 per quarter and receive discounts of 25 percent. Optimized partners have revenue targets of $125,000 per quarter and receive discounts of 30 percent. Top-level Premium partners have sales goals of $450,000 per quarter and receive 35 percent discounts.

Finjan's partner program also includes certification requirements for sales and technical personnel. It provides all required partner training for free. Partners also get free or heavily discounted access to RUSafe, a channel-only appliance that partners can use for network analysis to demonstrate the ROI customers will see for putting security solutions in place.

SpectorSoft, Vero Beach, Fla., at the conference is launching Spector360 SR2, the latest release of its PC monitoring and employee surveillance software.

"It allows you to see everything that your employees are doing on the Internet, every chat, every IM, every key stroke typed, every search. You see what they are seeing," said Sharon Woolley, channel sales director at SpectorSoft.

The new version adds several features, including the ability to block or allow entire categories of Web sites via centralized policy management and the ability to block specific Internet chat or instant messaging contacts. It also adds full support for the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. Pricing starts at $1,995 for 25 network users.

Solution provider Connecting Point Technology Center has seen a sharp increase in the number of customers interested in employee monitoring solutions, said Lester Keizer, president of the Las Vegas-based company, estimating that his sales of Spector360 are up over 30 percent year-over-year.

"In the last six to 12 months, we've gotten more calls for [Spector360] than ever before. Customers are worried about internal sabotage activity and all of the malware, plus the popularity of things like iTunes, MySpace and other social networking sites," Keizer said. "It starts out as more of a security play, but then they see the productivity point of view for it."

In addition to the product upgrade, SpectorSoft has also been working to update its channel program, Woolley said. Over the past three months the company has expanded its partner training efforts, added co-op and market development funds, provided dedicated technical support for VARs and pushed maintenance renewals through the channel for the first time, she said.

The reinvigorated channel effort comes as part of a push to add 400 new business-focused channel partners worldwide over the next year. Currently, the majority of the vendor's 2,800 worldwide partners are consumer-focused, she said.

NEXT: ZyXEL Goes Hybrid