WatchGuard launches product bundle to its channel partners

Despite being acquired by Francisco Partners last week, Unified Threat Management (UTM) vendor WatchGuard has launched a product bundle to its channel partners.

The bundle combines WatchGuard’s flagship Firebox X Core UTM appliance and one licence key for the company’s services, including gateway anti-virus/intrusion prevention, anti-spyware, spamBlocker, WebBlocker and LiveSecurity support.

Nick Banks, sales director at WatchGuard EMEA, told CRN: “In the past, end-users had to go through the confusion of buying separate licences for their UTM solution. Now we can offer them just one SKU [stock keeping unit]. It also means one anniversary date for our VARs to remember in terms of licensing and support.”

Banks added that the Firebox X bundle is fully scaleable and complies with the recent Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive from the European Union. He said the vendor is due to release a UTM Firebox Edge bundle in the coming quarter that will open up the WatchGuard range to its customer base.

Matt Hornt, sales director at WatchGuard VAR Sec-1, said: “The whole concept of having layered security on one platform makes it more accessible to end-users, and UTM is where the industry is going. In the past, UTM has not necessarily been easy to deploy because firms had to deal with multi-vendor products and needed someone to monitor the technology full-time which was expensive.”

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