Jim Harold, Vice President of Worldwide Channel Sales at Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat Systems, Inc. a leading provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions, today introduced its new Cloud Partner Program to provide a quick and easy path for partners to sell the Blue Coat Cloud Service. The Blue Coat Cloud Service is an Internet-delivered service that leverages proven Blue Coat Web security technology and the collaborative WebPulse community to provide cost-effective Web protection to all users, all the time, anywhere.
The Cloud Partner Program includes two new designations: Cloud-Ready and Managed Security Service Provider. The Cloud-Ready designation provides existing Blue Coat partners with the sales and technology training they need to quickly begin selling the new service. The Managed Security Service Provider designation is an advanced designation offering partners the option to white label the Blue Coat Cloud Service and build additional offerings around it. For end-users, the new designations offer an easy way to identify partners that can help them deploy or manage the new Blue Coat Cloud Service.
“This new service gives us a great opportunity to introduce a broad new group of organizations to the same enterprise-class Web security technology that we have been selling for years,” said Neil Campbell, general manager, global security at Dimension Data. “With the new partner program tailored specifically to emphasize the role of the reseller as a trusted advisor for their customers, Blue Coat is demonstrating its commitment to its partners.”
Designed to enable partners to successfully sell the Blue Coat Cloud Service, the new Cloud Partner Program offers partners a series of benefits to help them build stronger relationships with their end users and expand their business, including:
Expanded Solution Portfolio: The Blue Coat Cloud Service complements existing Blue Coat products and allows Cloud-Ready partners to expand their product portfolio. By offering both an appliance-based and a cloud-based Web security solution, partners can help their end-users choose the solution that is right for their business. Trials can be provisioned in real time, allowing customers to quickly and easily demonstrate the value of the service.
New Revenue Opportunities: Cloud-Ready partners and Managed Security Service Providers each gain recurring revenue with a subscription-based pricing model and protection through deal registration for both new and renewal sales.
New Service Opportunities: Managed Security Service Providers can white label the Blue Coat Cloud Service to extend the reach of existing managed services or deliver a new managed service to their customers. With the detailed reporting user interface of the Blue Coat Cloud Service, Cloud-Ready partners have the opportunity to offer new consulting services, such as policy optimization, as well as tier 1 and 2 support.
Customer Visibility: With Partner View, both Cloud-Ready partners and Managed Security Service Providers have full visibility into customer entitlements, trial status and renewals. This visibility gives partners the information they need to act as the trusted advisor to their end users.
“It was important for us to put our channel partners at the forefront of this service, so we architected the Blue Coat Cloud Service from the ground up to be a channel-delivered solution,” said Jim Harold, vice president of worldwide channel sales at Blue Coat Systems. “The new Cloud Partner Program provides partners with a quick and easy path to successfully sell into the rapidly growing security software-as-a-service market.”
