SonicWALL: A Champion of Affordable, Effective Solutions : By - Shubhomoy Biswas Country Manager, SonicWALL India

Cost-effective, ease of management and hassle-free operation is perhaps the motto of every solution today. And, when it comes to security solutions, it is extremely essential that the objective of simplicity is accorded due importance. On the one side, malicious activities and objects make the IT workers frustrated. On the other side, if the solution becomes a complex one, then the use of IT as an empowering tool can become cumbersome. Therefore, the goal of SonicWALL is to deliver high-performance capabilities in an easy-to-use and simple-to-manage format for large and small organizations.

SonicWALL’s goal is to make the users of its products safe and in control of their Internet-connected computers and networks. More importantly, SonicWALL is positioned as the ideal solution in the convergence of the malware economy. VarBusiness recently announced SonicWALL’s recent emergence as #3 brand to contend with in the Network Security space after Cisco and McAfee.  SonicWALL solutions span across the entire network security, which includes UTM/Firewall/VPN, Email Security, disk-based backup and recovery solutions, Content Security Management and centralized Management and Reporting Solutions.

Its unique approach is to deliver powerful, high-performance capabilities in a format that is easy to use and easy to manage – and is, therefore, ideal for the small- and mid-size enterprise organizations, where IT support is often limited.

SonicWALL positions itself as the champion of affordable, effective and easily managed security solutions for companies of all sizes. Shubhomoy Biswas, Country Manager, SonicWALL India, says, “We will continue to introduce mould-breaking business models that allow smaller organizations to take advantage of technologies previously reserved for larger and wealthier companies. In addition, we will continue to extend our range of mid-market solutions that bring the same qualities of affordable power and performance to mid-tier companies.”

Biswas adds, “Uniquely among our competitors, SonicWALL sells only through the channel and has no direct sales. We rely on our channel partners to sell on our behalf and do not compete with them in any way.  Our products have a particular appeal to channel partners since they are designed for ease of installation and management.” SonicWALL employs a two-tier distribution channel.

The company offers a range of subscription services and managed services options which enable its channel partners to engage with SonicWALL in recurring revenue opportunities.

SonicWALL has an umbrella Medallion Partner Programme, under which there are three levels of partnership – Approved, Silver and Gold, depending on the level of engagement and expertise of the channel partners are engaged with the company.

Apart from this, the company has created an MSSP (Managed Security Services Programme), whereby partners can contract with their customers to act as the outsourced IT and security service provider for them.

Biswas maintains, “The MSP programme helps create a breed of more specialized VARs, with outsourced offerings that end-users perceive as genuinely productive. This new programme presents the channel with a significant opportunity to add value beyond a hardware sale.”

At present, the company has IT secure and Select Technologies as the key distributors. And, Taarak assists in distribution support for SonicWALL e-mail security line of products.

  As a 100-per cent channel-driven company, channel plays a vital role in the integration of solutions. Therefore, SonicWALL provides a host of supports to them, which includes pre- and post-sales support, technical and business training, cooperative marketing funds, seminars, roadshows, collateral, lead generation and a variety of sales tools plus one-off events. Every year, SonicWALL hosts its top reseller partners at a regional Peak Performance event and international executives regularly visit India to interact with channel partners regularly.

  Apart from SonicWALL’s sales and support offices in Bangalore and Delhi, SonicWALL India has also an outsourced tech support centre staffed by SonicWALL-certified engineers in Bangalore that services Indian and international customers.

Besides, the company has leveraged the support of its call centre operations in India to deliver efficient after-sales technical support. It currently has more than 100 SonicWALL-certified engineers providing support to its customers.

The company has doubled the number of its Indian partners over the past two years. As SonicWALL is penetrating deeper into the B- and C-class cities through these partners, the company sees to it that its partners are well trained and equipped so that they can reach customers effectively. It realizes that specialized and trained partners will be able to create more awareness about SonicWALL and the concept of UTM solutions, and also how much the concept can offer potential customers across India. SonicWALL has plans for numerous incentive programmes to keep its channel partners motivated.

  Under its MSP programme, SonicWALL helps participating channel partners to set up a robust management infrastructure using SonicWALL PRO 4060 or SonicWALL PRO 5060 security appliances and its award-winning Global Management System for remote management of end-user networks. MSP partners will be able to access specially designed and priced hardware, software and services bundles, end-user marketing support and tailored support services to help them maintain a high level of service for their customers across cities.

  The capability of the solutions provider can be gauged from the customers’ profile it has. Today, perhaps, most of the big names in the government and private organizations are its customers, which include Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), Ministry of Defence, R&D organizations, Emantras Interactive Technologies Pvt. Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., RCC-Anna University, Sify Limited, Cox & King (India) Ltd., Piramal Holdings Ltd., Set India Pvt. Ltd., Sodexho Pass Services (India) Pvt. Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., New Delhi Television Ltd., etc.

The plus point for the company is customers win from the competition camp. Biswas says, “The reasons are most commonly a combination of ease of use, price-performance and breadth of feature in the case of our SSL-VPN platforms, the fact that there is no near-competitor.  Another reason is that we offer enterprise-class features across all our products from entry-level to our largest offerings – we don’t think that customers should be at greater risk from Internet threats just because they are small.”

For the last three years, SonicWALL India chapter has been a success story. Therefore, it has been focal point for the global management of the company. Most of the top management people have also visited this country to see the trend of the industry. And, the company is about to see Matt Medeiros, CEO of the SonicWALL global operation’s visit in March.

Particularly, the year 2006 has contributed a lot to the success of the company in this soil as SonicWALL India has showed the highest sales growth compared to any other market in the world for SonicWALL, the culmination of which has happened with SonicWALL India team being honoured at Sunnyvale.

Finally…
If 2006 has been a very good year for SonicWALL, hopefully 2007 will be an excellent year. The company’s goal is to attract more top-tier channel partners to help SonicWALL serve its growing band of mid-enterprise customers and deepen its relationship with its existing partner base. The company is planning to further strengthen its position in the SMB space as well as expanding into larger deployments. Currently, the company has about 60 channel partners across the c ountry, the effort this year will surely be driven towards increasing the number.