Solid State Of Security

This paradigm is at the heart of Solidcore Systems' Solidification security and change management technology, which the three-year-old startup is wrapping an official partner program around this week.

Available in two flavors—Solidcore 2 and Solidcore Embedded—the vendor's Solidification technology protects servers, PCs, storage arrays, switches and even cell phones by preventing unauthorized code such as a virus from running and by locking out unauthorized changes to runtime environments that could inhibit compute performance, said Rix Kramlich, founder and executive vice president of marketing at Solidcore, Palo Alto, Calif.

"Solidification flips the traditional security model on its head," Kramlich said. "We identify the known good and let that run at the exclusion of everything else."

Kramlich called Solidcore's first official Authorized Reseller Program "a sign of maturity" for the vendor, which had been selling 70 percent of its products direct. Without providing details, he said proper incentives have been given to Solidcore's direct-sales force to prevent their efforts from colliding head-on with those of its channel partners. "We have it internally worked out so that everyone will be happy," Kramlich said.

Membership in any of the three tiers of Solidcore's reseller program requires volume sales commitments and certifications. Partner collaboration with Solidcore's direct-sales force is a common thread running through the program, Kramlich said. He added that Solidcore is more interested in expanding its overall market share by enlisting the resources and customer contacts owned by the channel than it is in expanding its percentage of indirect sales.

A security integrator that recently began selling Solidcore, Tom Darin, vice president of business solutions at Security Inspection, Detroit, said the vendor's direct-sales force so far appears to have the interests of partners in mind. "When a direct rep calls and asks me how can they be of help, it doesn't get any better than that," he said.

From what he's seen, Darin said Solidcore implementations also can seed long-term professional services revenue by positioning companies like his to routinely calibrate and expand networks solidified by the vendor's products. Kramlich seconded this notion, and said driving service dollars through partners is key to the new program.

Solidcore solutions start at about $2,000 per host, with volume discounts available.