SonicWALL to Bring Partner Program to India

06.11.2008
Close on the heels of the opening of its Engineering facility in India, SonicWALL is now seriously planning on bringing its North America Medallion Partner Program to India. This program, which the company intends to formalize soon, reportedly comprises comprehensive SLAs for engagement and support for its partner fraternity according to the status accorded to a partner. Amongst others, the Medallion Program would also outline the partner revenue business model, along with the margins and renewal opportunities.

The move reportedly comes as a part of the vendor's agenda to streamline its channel model, enhance the enterprise market, consolidate its SMB base and to grow SonicWALL's subscription services in India. Douglas Brockett, VP and GM-SonicWALL, while speaking to Channelworld, commented "We are a channel-driven organization; our value proposition has to be right, and this is complemented by not just the product, but also the service offerings and the channel partners who serve it." Abhay Solapurkar, VP-Worldwide Support and GM, India Operations, added that the company was looking at adding partners onto its fold under the aegis of the Partner Program, which would be driven by the company's India sales team. Brockett said, "We are looking at adding on partners sensibly; partners who can come on board to add value, and who can understand the product and profitability, which in turn would give them the competitive advantage. The Partner program would be the definition of all these components."

Solapurkar disclosed that the India operations team would be working closely with the sales team led by SonicWALL's India Country Manager, Shubhomoy Biswas, to minutely tailor the program for the partners in India, and it would be a matter of time before the details are finalized and implemented. He also added that the company's latest R&D-cum-tech support facility, along with the other global facilities of SonicWALL in North America, EMEA and Japan, were well-equipped with the sun model of 24*7*365 world-class support mechanism for both customers as well as partners; this may be used as part of the requirements of the partner program.

The new R&D facility in Bangalore, according to Brockett, is also set to be the company's largest in terms of people by 2009. He added, "India and China are our fastest growing markets. APAC would contribute significantly to the company's overall toplines in the future, as against the 10 odd percent now."