Channel-Only vArmour Rolls Out New Partner Program

**Editor’s Note: Click here for a list of recent channel-program changes you should know.**

By Edward Gately

Data center security provider vArmour has unveiled its new partner program to capitalize on the $77 billion global information security market opportunity.

The vArmour Invited Partners (VIP) program is aimed at increasing the company’s ability to support international enterprises and service providers, as well as to continue to sustain large-scale deals.

Dean Hickman-Smith, vArmour’s senior vice president of field operations, tells Channel Partners the program represents the company’s long-term commitment to the channel. It currently has 20 active channel partners.

“With vArmour, partners can get customers up and running in minutes, instantly visualizing and controlling their most critical applications and data,” he said. “VIP is pivotal to helping global enterprises transform their data center in order to keep up with today’s business demands on IT, without sacrificing security.”

In the program, partners are an extension of the vArmour team and will receive support through every stage of the sale, from demand generation, qualification and closing, to a longer-term service and support relationship. vArmour sells exclusively through the channel.

In addition, the program provides technical education and financial incentives.

“With our channel program, new opportunities exist across the board,” Hickman-Smith said. “First, we are providing access to an entirely new market — traditional methods have failed to properly secure the data center, so the current market opportunity is huge. Further, we extend this opportunity to the cloud with our unique, distributed systems architecture.”

Partners have access to a long-term revenue stream that includes “significant funds for professional services and a solid software margin,” he said.  In addition, vArmour is providing marketing opportunities through its partnerships.

“Our program is not about the volume of partners we’ll have, but rather the quality of our partners and types of customers we’ll cover,” Hickman-Smith said. “As we continue to grow, we hope to add five to 10 strategic partners each quarter and collaborate with them to build effective go-to-market relationships.”

Atos, Big Technology and EVT are select top global channel partners in the program.

“Securing the data center is a team approach,” said Jason Dance, managing director of Big Technology UK. “vArmour’s distributed security system and our expertise and leadership in providing innovative IT are a perfect fit for our vast network of enterprise customers.”