WatchGuard Aims To Wow Partners

The Seattle-based vendor will make the announcements here at the Computer Security Institute's annual Computer Security Conference. Other companies slated to make announcements at the show include BigFix, Emeryville, Calif., which plans to roll out a new version of its enterprise patch management software.

Under WatchGuard's retooled Secure Partner Program, certified WatchGuard solution providers will receive rebates immediately upon purchase from distributors, said Christine Pomeroy, director of channel marketing. Before, partners had to wait until they received a distributor invoice and had to subscribe to WatchGuard's LiveSecurity Service to claim rebates, she said.

The company also will offer higher back-end rebates of 2 percent to 4 percent for purchases of $15,000 or more per quarter, and is changing the training requirements for its two partnership levels to better support various types of partners, she said.

Getting rebates up front "definitely will help," said Joel Wonicker-Cook, director of sales and marketing at LNS Technologies, a WatchGuard partner in Tampa, Fla. WatchGuard's revised program "rewards everyone based on how they run their business," he added. "I don't think anyone can lose in this program."

On the product side, WatchGuard will unveil new features for its Firebox SOHO 6 and SOHO 6tc appliances, including Dual ISP Port Upgrade, which lets companies back up their primary Internet connection with a secondary link. It also will offer new software features for its Vclass appliances for large enterprises, including optional High Availability Active/Active capability for the V80 and V100.

For its part, BigFix will launch Enterprise Suite 2.0, which scans systems for vulnerabilities and allows administrators to quickly deploy patches. The suite primarily provides Microsoft patches, but the software also can be used for desktop management, said Scott Texeira, director of business development at BigFix.