Kerio Partners Must Pass Rigorous Exam To Carry New ServerFirewall

The new Business Partner Program follows a tiered model that carries two designations: Certified Reseller partner and Preferred partner. In order to qualify for and participate in the program, partners must pass a stringent Kerio Certified Security Administrator (KCSA) exam.

Kerio is using the exam and certification process to ensure a high level of quality among its solution provider partners and to verify their skill sets, said Dusan Vitek, vice president of marketing at the Santa Clara, Calif., firm.

Solution providers interested in passing the KCSA exam can train online at Kerio's Web site.

Partners that want to move up the ranks can graduate from Certified Reseller partner to Preferred partner status by demonstrating additional expertise in Kerio technology and by meeting sales goals, Vitek said.

Ben Toker, CEO of MACCIUS, a solution provider in San Jose, Calif., said the rigorous exam is an indication of how serious Kerio is about its channel. "They kick our butts with those tests," Toker said. "But the benefit of this is that we know that they are recruiting the best solution providers with the deepest knowledge of their products."

The vendor also launched the Kerio ServerFirewall, giving solution providers a new tool to defend Windows servers against security threats. The software-based firewall solution protects exposed servers running within corporate networks, as well as Internet servers hosting Web applications.

The ServerFirewall features intrusion-prevention technology, remote management and an application hardening technology that proactively blocks new types of worms. The product also boasts network filtering capabilities that show IT administrators which network processes are running on a server, allowing the complete shutdown of all processes that could pose a security threat.

"[The ServerFirewall] spans the product life cycle from remote installation, configuration and monitoring to automatic updates to ensure maximum protection of server resources," Vitek said.

The ServerFirewall is available now starting at $599 per license.