SonicWall Debuts Training, Marketing Initiatives for Channel Partners

SonicWall has launched SonicWall University to train partners on cybersecurity, and new global marketing programs and incentives to help the SonicWall channel deliver their cybersecurity solutions and services for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs).

The firm has signed up more than 10,000 channel partners since it spun off as an independent cybersecurity company and introduced the SonicWall SecureFirst Partner Program last November 1. It said that partners have registered for SecureFirst from 90 countries.

“The response from SonicWall’s channel partners to our spin out far exceeded even our own expectations,” said Bill Conner, president and CEO, SonicWall. “We’re excited that 10,000 partners have already joined the SecureFirst Partner Program and pleased to welcome 2,000 new partners to SonicWall. Today, we are announcing major investments in education and marketing to help enable these 10,000 partners to assist their customers with securing their business. We know these cyber threats are shifting and small to medium-size businesses are increasingly becoming targets, but they often lack in-house expertise and rely on trusted partners to keep their infrastructure secure.”

SonicWall has also made unprecedented investments in mining and analyzing data collected by the SonicWall Global Response Intelligent Defense (GRID) Threat Network which collects real-time data from more than a million sensors worldwide. Key findings as reported in the SonicWall 2017 Annual Threat Report include that ransomware attack attempts, one of the most insidious new threats, grew by 167 times year-over-year to 638 million and in the majority of cases is launched via email. Additionally, SonicWall research shows that 62 percent of Internet sessions are now encrypted with either SSL or TLS, providing greater data security but also building a dark channel that threat actors can leverage to launch encrypted attacks.

To address lack of trained cybersecurity resources available to SMBs, the SonicWall University channel enablement program is designed as an extension of the SecureFirst Partner Program, helping communicate insights SonicWall has gleaned from the SonicWall GRID Threat Network to the partner community in a structure they can learn from easily.

More than 5,600 individuals in the SonicWall channel already have earned technical certifications through existing SonicWall certification programs which will continue. Now, partners can also access SonicWall University with rcontent, tools and resources delivered via an on-demand, web-based platform.

“Since SonicWall became an independent company focused 100 percent on cybersecurity solutions and 100 percent on channel fulfilment, we have seen a massive spike in partner engagement,” said Steve Pataky, vice president, Worldwide Security Sales, SonicWall. “The interest partners have shown in the SecureFirst Partner Program, and the early buzz by partners about today’s launch of SonicWall University, underscores just how big of a priority high-quality enablement is to continuing to deliver the best possible security solutions through our partners. With these enablement programs, customers can turn to any one of our army of 10,000 proven and fortified partners to protect themselves against shifting cybersecurity threats.”

On the marketing front, partners can access prepackaged campaign materials and apply for market development funds online through a new SonicWall Partner Portal. Partners can earn special discounts and rebates for using these programs to drive business.

“As a long standing partner and direct marketer of SonicWall, we are seeing great business acceleration since SonicWall’s independence and the new programs such as the SonicWall University,” said Hillel Sackstein, president, Virtual Graffiti, a Platinum Partner and DMR. “We are delighted with the restoration of the SonicWall brand and the new marketing campaign ‘air cover’.”


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