Independent SonicWall Boasts of Booming Channel Momentum
SonicWall is coming out of Dell's shadow at a flat-out sprint.
Late last year, Francisco Partners and Elliot Management completed the acquisition of Dell Software Group and spun out SonicWall as an independent company. Simultaneously on Nov. 1, SonicWall created the SonicWall SecureFirst Partner Program.
The 25-year-old company took the opportunity to redefine itself, as Steve Pataky, vice president of Worldwide Sales and Channel for SonicWall, explained in an interview earlier this year. "We're getting back to the legacy of SonicWall being really focused on the channel. This signals our return to being a 100 percent channel company, with 100 percent focus on security and with 100 percent of our brand, SonicWall," Pataky said.
Channel partners are flocking to the private network security company, soaking up training and transacting business, according to figures released by SonicWall on Tuesday.
SonicWall currently boasts that 15,000 partners have registered for SecureFirst since November, with about 5,000 signing up in the last three months. Of those 15,000 partners, 4,000 are new partners for SonicWall, roughly double the number of new partners that SonicWall had three months ago. Signing up from 90 countries, the SonicWall channel consists of resellers, integrators, managed security service providers and security consultants.
The new SonicWall University that was launched at the end of March is also getting heavy use, with 10,000 hours of training logged and 19,000 successful exams so far, according to the company.
It hasn't hurt that SonicWall's refocused story came as WannaCry made ransomware a household word, not to mention the Petya attack that is hitting now and pushing security even closer to the forefront. SonicWall's initial partner-focused marketing campaign investments earlier this year involved newsworthy topics like ransomware and phishing e-mails.
The recruitment and training metrics are significant, but Pataky says all the activity is being successfully converted to real revenue opportunities. He said this week that SonicWall has seen 50 percent growth in partner deal registration, representing $250 million in new pipeline.
Posted by Scott Bekker on June 28, 2017