ZoneLabs Offers ZoneAlarm Pro Through Channel

The company decided to open up the product to the reseller channel because of the number of solution providers asking to sell it, said David Batista, vice president of sales and services at ZoneLabs, San Francisco.

"I was looking over the shoulders of one of our salespeople, who was typing a rejection letter to a partner who wanted to sell ZAP," Batista said. That's when he decided to launch a reseller channel program.

He said it turned out that the company had a backlog of about 130 solution providers that had expressed interest in reselling ZAP since its soft launch in early September.

ZoneLabs launched the product with retailers such as Circuit City and Best Buy because it is targeted at the home and small-business customer. ZoneLabs also sells an enterprise product, Integrity, through a channel of about 35 partners.

"With Integrity, we were not trying to go for the mass distribution play, but our approach with ZAP is much different," he said. "We expect a strong hit rate."

He said ZoneLabs hopes to sign up 200 resellers for ZAP by the end of the year. "There are no tiers associated with this program," he said. "Anyone who wants to play gets a 20 percent discount."

ZoneLabs is hosting a solutions center on its Web site where resellers can be listed. "The site is set up to leverage success in the consumer space," Batista said. "Resellers can sign up, get a contract and purchase product, all online."

Other features of the program include training via Webinars, a personal sales representative and second-level technical support via telephone, he said.