Websense has crowned 2e2, GSS and Vistorm as the first UK members of its new invitation-only partner category.

The Enterprise Alliance Framework (EAF) sits above the security vendor’s current Platinum, Gold and Silver partner tiers and is designed to differentiate resellers that have a strong professional services pedigree.

The badge was launched around a year ago in Websense’s native US but is now being rolled out globally.

The vendor aims to have 50 EAF partners up and running by the end of 2010 globally.

Didier Guibal, executive vice president at Websense, said: “This involves executive-level commitment so is dedicated to the best partners that are committed to delivering what matters to the customer,” he said.

“That is the ability to support them technically in the design phase around professional services.”

Websense will draw up joint business plans with each EAF partner that will include rigid goals on what market segments to target. The vendor will also use them to get feedback from the market to develop products, he added.

Websense aims to have half a dozen UK EAFs within a year.

Dave Ellis, director of e-security at Websense distributor Computerlinks, said: “It makes sense for Websense to deepen the relationship with some partners that are capable of working across multiple products areas.

“It has a strong data leakage prevention offering after buying Port Authority and the sale of that product is different from URL filtering. It makes sense to differentiate partners that can sell those solutions.”