News & Events: Press Releases - October 15, 2007
Q1 Labs Hits Major Milestones in its Channel Program; Launches New Program Elements
Partner Certification and Deal Registration Enable Partners to Build Successful Businesses in the Growing SIEM and Network Security Management Markets
WALTHAM, Mass. - October 15, 2007 – Q1 Labs, a leading network security management company, today announced the launch of new elements to its Q-Alliance Channel Partner Program.
These new partner initiatives are in response to the rapid growth of its worldwide channel partnerships and the demand for QRadar skills differentiation and technical knowledge.
Recent Momentum in the Channel
• 118 partners worldwide
• 70 percent growth in the number of Authorized North American VARs in the Q1 Labs channel program year-over-year
• Strong relationships with four of the top five Juniper VARs in North America including Suntel Services, IGX Global, Accuvant, and Fishnet Security
• Recently executed relationships with national partners such as Dyntek, Northrup Grumman, Integralis, and Relational Technology Services along with major regional partners such as Quest Systems, Nexum Inc., Halock Security, Intervision Systems Technologies, and Netanium Security Solutions
• 60 percent growth in channel revenue year-over-year
The New Program Elements
These programs are also designed to further ease our channel partners’ ability to build mutually successful business opportunities in the compliance monitoring and threat management market.
"The availability of channel-friendly programs like certification and deal registration are key indicators of how well a vendor understands the channel, and the channel-readiness of their solution," said Don Jackson, executive vice president, Suntel Services. "We continue to find a strong demand for QRadar within our customer base and know that these programs will continue to help us meet customer needs for compliance and security management solutions."
The addition of partner certification and deal registration (which provides important margin protection in a competitive market) further extends the company’s commitment to its value-added resellers (VARs) while assuring the correct business frameworks are in place for Q1 Labs’ partners to successfully sell and deliver QRadar to customers.
Partner Certification: The Q-Alliance Certification Program delivers important training classes to partners and requires completion of a series of six steps, including three Q1 Labs training courses, which must be attended by Partner sales representatives and sales engineers. Once certified, Q-Alliance Channel Partners (in the U.S. and Canada) are entitled to product discounts above the standard discounts for partners at the regular (authorized) level.
Deal Registration: As compliance deadlines loom, and the network and security worlds continue to converge, there is high demand for products like QRadar. Deal registration provides important margin protection for best of breed network and security VARs by allowing partners to receive additional discounts on purchase and resale of Q1 Labs products to customers with whom they are already working.
Market Development Funds: Q1 Labs currently co-sponsors 10 partner marketing events each quarter and demand for additional sponsorship is rising. Now all Q-Alliance Channel Partners can earn Market Development Funds (MDF) on the sale of approved Q1 Labs products. The MDF can be used by the partner for Q1 Labs approved marketing events, training courses, and evaluation products.
"The way we package and deliver our product, coupled with the ability to embed customer and environment specific best practices, means we have always been a channel-friendly company," said Charles Kenney, director of channels, at Q1 Labs. "Channel partners, particularly best-of-breed network and security VARs, are the key to our continued growth and success and programs like these are built to help them deliver the right solutions to our joint customers."