PacketMotion Looks To Expand With New Channel Program

PacketMotion is taking steps to expand its reach with the launch of its first Security Partner Program.

The new single-tier program will entail a deal registration portal and a referral program. In addition, the program will offer sales and marketing support, as well as top-tier engineering and technical support throughout the entirety of the sales and deployment cycle, available direct, or via phone, e-mail and Web-based portals.

Partners will also have access to training that includes in-depth instruction and certifications that enable them to move up the ranks from a general "referral" status to gold level partner.

Thus far, PacketMotion has about 10 channel partners but over the next 12 months aims to enhance its new channel program to about two dozen solution providers with specializations in security, data protection and compliance backgrounds. However, Ravi Khatod, senior vice president of worldwide and business development, said that the company would rather focus on quality and not quantity.

"We want to make the investment. When we do that we see results," Khatod said. "We don’t want to find ourselves with lots of unqualified partners."

Currently, PacketMotion does about 75 percent of its business through the channel, although Khatod said that he'd like to see that number increase with the channel programs' expansion.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company says the program will give channel partners another arrow in their quiver by providing support around the company's flagship PacketSentry, a UAM product designed to protect users against insider threats as well as helping them adhere to compliance regulations such as HIPAA, PCI and Sarbanes Oxley. Touting rapid deployment, the PacketSentry product also comes with a built-in set of best practices, and out-of-the box reports.

Executives say that hands down, compliance regulations are the company's biggest business driver. Khatod said that the product was attractive to organizations due to the fact that it consolidated numerous point products, and resolved security issues from insider threats while addressing a "half a dozen other security compliance objectives," such as network segmentation required by PCI, he said.

As such, the company plays across all market segments, from SMB to large enterprise Fortune 25 companies, with business in key verticals such as financial, state and local government and health-care sectors. Khatod added the company has experienced the biggest traction in the SMB and midmarket verticals.

Next: Partners Say Compliance Strong Draw

Jeff Manibusan, director of sales for Evolve, a Rockland, Calif.-based solution provider, said that compliance was his biggest hook, adding that his customers, primarily public sector and large enterprises, have experienced an increasing amount of headaches in adhering to regulations.

"Companies have been dealing with these issues for a few years. The technology that they've used, or tried to deploy, is expensive, difficult to roll out. At the end of the day, they end up with a lot of false positives and false negatives," he said.

As such, the product has done well with his customers, many of which are public sector and large enterprise, and "folks that would be PCI sensitive" such as health-care organizations, financials and tribal gaming, he said.

Looking forward, Manibusan said that he remains confident in partnering with the company, even if it becomes an acquisition target, in part, because of the product's unique niche in the marketplace.

"From a financial liability perspective, that's something we always look at," he said. "Whether they continue to grow independently or as part of an acquisition, they're well positioned with the right companies that we typically work with."