Identity-based unified threat management (UTM) company Cyberoam has introduced an incentive channel initiative, called the Cyberoam Partner Advantage Programme.
Harish Chib, senior VP of new business development, said during the Cyberoam Partner Summit, held in Athens, Greece, that the initiative was unveiled in order to improve partner support and training.
In addition, the security vendor has also brought out an online partner portal that integrates Web 2.0 tools in order to improve communication and transparency among its channel partners across the globe.
By the end of March, Cyberoam indicated it will remove pre-sales support via its old Web site and e-mail, and distributors and resellers will need to log onto the new portal in order to do business.
This links to Cyberoam's plans to introduce a certification programme this year that offers the opportunity to turn its partners into managed security service providers (MSSPs).
According to Cyberoam, the company has been working on the MSSP initiative for eight months. Cyberoam claims the MSSP initiative will enable its partners to offer post-sales support for its customers and shorten the time it takes to resolve customers' technical problems.
There will be Cyberoam hosted central access control for the MSSPs, then local partners can directly manage its customers' appliances. Cyberoam indicated its partners will need to undergo training and certification for this programme.
Empowering the channel
“Through the channel programmes, we want to educate the market by having a solution and training-based approach,” Chib said.
“Our goal for this year is to double our channel partner support in order to expand our presence globally. We are also investing in having more people on the ground to go to partners and customers directly.”
Chib added: “The Middle East and Africa region is a good market for Cyberoam to drive business growth. For this year, we have planned four training programmes in Africa and seven in the Middle East.
“By 2014, hardware network security will be a $6.5 billion market. We see this as a major opportunity for Cyberoam.”
Chib predicted that in the future there would be major consolidation in the network security market among giants, such as Cisco, Fortinet and Juniper Networks, in order to limit competition of the smaller players.
Growing market
According to consultancy research firm IDC, the UTM market grew more than 36% and reached $1.8 billion in vendor revenue in 2009. By 2014, this figure is expected to reach $3.1 billion.
Global research firm Gartner says identity access management is the number one security priority for organisations. This is followed by data loss prevention, anti-virus, firewalls, intrusion protection and then network access control.
According to Garner, IT spending in Africa and the Middle East is $259 billion up in 2011, from $182 billion in 2007. This region shows a forecast CAGR from 2006 through 2011 of 77%, which is the strongest of the emerging economies.
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