FireEye Launches New Endpoint Security Solution, Incentives For Channel

FireEye announced on Monday the launch of its long-awaited endpoint security offering, which it said is a key piece in its evolution to a more channel-focused company.

FireEye Endpoint 4.0, formerly known under the HX brand, will now be generally available to partners starting September 28. The version includes multiple detection capabilities, including a traditional antivirus engine, behavior and exploit analysis, machine learning, and ongoing updates from the FireEye threat intelligence and research experts.

The solution can be deployed in the cloud, on premises, virtual or hybrid.

[Related: FireEye Looks To Revamp Pricing, Go-To-Market Strategy With Partners]

Chris Carter, vice president of channels, America, said the launch represents a turning point for FireEye products and the channel, as it is the first fully "channel ready" solution the company has launched. FireEye has been vying to win back the hearts and minds of its partners over the past year, after a long period of tension with the channel.

"We've been working very hard on reconnecting with our partners and we have had a strategy that has been very focused on leading partners in our ecosystem and building support for them … The endpoint product that we are releasing is the first of many products we will release that are priced and packaged for the channel," Carter said.

Nick Giampietro, partner and director of sales at G-Net Solutions, a Babylon, N.Y.-based FireEye partner, said his company has been looking forward to the endpoint security launch, after being involved in a preview of the offerings. He said the endpoint solution, combined with the Helix platform, will allow G-Net Solutions to "continue to penetrate the large enterprise market … and will give us more traction in the mid-market as well." He said new pricing models also have him "very optimistic."

"We are looking forward to this formal launch. Our preview of the offering has us excited," Giampietro said. He said G-Net Solutions "remains focused on FireEye" when it comes to its APT solution for endpoint security.

Carter said FireEye is tying significant incentives to the new product, which he said has overall been "very well received." The incentives include new and existing customer spiffs, which have been running since Q2 and will run through the end of the year, that provide incentives for selling new solutions to customers. Those incentives include deal registration and closed deal bonuses for both VAR reps and SEs.

FireEye is also rolling out special platinum partner rebates for net new deal registrations, regardless of the product. Those incentives range from 3 percent to 6 percent, depending on the percent attainment of the deal registration new business goal. Carter said FireEye will also extend these rebates to include gold partners. He said partners can earn these extra performance rebates on the new endpoint security offering as well as on the rest of the FireEye security platform.

"Part of our differentiation in the market is the opportunity to make a lot more money for the partners," Carter said. "We have put a lot of emphasis on that in our go to market."

The market for endpoint security is extremely competitive, with startups jumping in with next-generation endpoint security offerings and legacy endpoint companies vying for a comeback. FireEye enters a market that already has many well-established players. However, Carter said the company expects its new pricing model and platform security offering is a "unique story" for partners.

To add to that, Carter said FireEye will provide incentives to partners for competitive displacements. He said FireEye surveyed partners to determine how competitors were priced and developed a promotion to ensure its product is "priced aggressively" to compete and retain margin against both next-generation and legacy endpoint security solutions. The competitive displacement incentives extend to deal partnership arrangements, he said. Combining this incentive with the spiff and deal registration incentives will add significant margin opportunity for partners, Carter said.

Carter said that opportunity will expand further if partners tie the company's endpoint security launch with the full FireEye Helix platform and their own services.

"This is a significant margin opportunity over and above for the partner," Carter said. "We're offering our partners a very, very rich and rewarding opportunity for helping us build market share."