eIQnetworks Courts MSSPs With New Program

The eIQnetworks Managed Security Service Providers Partner Program looks to recruit VARs that either already offer remote security monitoring or are interested in getting in the game, said Vijay Basani, CEO of eIQnetworks, Acton, Mass.

One incentive to join the program is eIQnetworks' freshly upgraded line of Security Event Management (SEM) solutions. The new SEM products now provide realtime monitoring, system log management and forensic analysis of the security data that's remotely collected from routers, switches, firewalls, VPNs and antivirus systems. In addition, the SEM suite gives VARs a co-branded, customer-facing portal for monitoring and diagnosing security activity for their remotely managed customers, Basani said.

"The MSSPs are offering remote device management right now by just monitoring the security devices," Basani said. "What we are helping them do now is also look at the activity going through those devices by analyzing the event data. So the idea is to help [MSSPs] better understand the overall security posture of the network," he said.

Another incentive to join the eIQnetworks program is the available reseller margins to partners, Basani said.

The vendor is offering its top reseller partners discounts of 30 percent to 35 percent, he said. The price of a typical remote security monitoring package from eIQnetworks runs at about $495 per monitored device for devices that cost $1,500 or less. For security devices that cost more than $1,500, the cost of the service is $895 per device. Both price categories are for onetime perpetual licenses, with support costing an addition 20 percent the cost of the total package, Basani said.

Michael Bruck, president and founder of BAI Security, an MSSP in Naperville, Ill., said the quality of the eIQnetworks client portal and event monitoring system actually displaced similar systems developed in-house by BAI.

"We had our own proprietary event monitoring system that we built in-house. Then when we started using eIQnetworks for reporting, we started looking at their event monitoring and switched," Bruck said. "We also had developed a client portal as well on our own, and that's another thing that got switched."

The eIQnetworks program is three-tiered, with mid- and lower-tier partners receiving less of a discount and less co-marketing support. However, all partners start at the top tier. Only partners who underperform in sales are moved down into the lower tiers, Basani said.

"Total sales per quarter determines [a partner's] place in the partner program," he said. "Everyone starts at the top, then falls back if necessary."

Currently, eIQnetworks has about 160 partners, and the company is adding as many as five new partners per week, Basani said. No certification is required to deploy the SEM technology; however, he recommends that VARs host the SEM solutions on a dedicated, Windows-based server.

BAI currently sells remote security monitoring to about 50 customers, and that number is on a pace to double shortly, Bruck said.