Competitor Sees Blood in the Water in Symantec Channel
There's plenty of argument about whether security giant Symantec's recent comments
to the investment community mark a reversal of its support for the channel sales
model. What's not at issue is that competitors view the FUD as a chink in Symantec's
armor.
Astaro Corp. today launched a "Symantec Switch" promotion for security
resellers. Astaro, a Burlington, Mass.-based maker of Internet security appliances,
is offering resellers an additional 20 percent discount for changing a Symantec
renewal opportunity into an Astaro purchase.
The effort derives from controversy over Symantec's plans to contact SMB customers
directly when it's time to renew -- listing the customer's partner of record
but not including contact information for those partners. Symantec is also in
hot water with the channel about comments to investors that partners would have
to show real value to edge out direct sales in its top 700-900 global accounts.
Astaro also promises margins of up to 40 percent for resellers who join the
Astaro Partner Program. "The value of our channel is simple: it's equal
to our total revenue," said Alex Quinonez, vice president of sales at Astaro,
in a statement. Quinonez offered Astaro's recent quadrupling of the size of
the field channel marketing team as an example of the company's commitment to
the channel.
Astaro currently has about 2,500 resellers worldwide. Although the company
has customers in 60 countries, the promotion is available only in United States
and Canada. More information is available here.
Posted by Scott Bekker on July 23, 2008