Stonesoft intends to get past Check Point
Firm vows to double its UK business in 2005
Stonesoft has vowed to double its UK business in 2005 after abandoning its efforts to compete with arch-rival Check Point Software through the channel.
The security vendor said it terminated its distribution contract with Unipalm recently after finding that Check Point's business with the distributor was too big to allow a rival to grow.
James Pattinson, vice-president of Stonesoft UK and Ireland, claimed Unipalm had been so committed to Check Point that it had been reluctant to support his business.
"We were not getting as much focus on Stonegate as we would have liked. There's a conflict of interest," he said.
Stonesoft now has a single UK distributor, e92Plus, which does not distribute Check Point products.
David Ellis, director of e-security at Unipalm, said that he shared Stonesoft's desire to part company.
"We didn't want to put in the resources Stonesoft wanted us to put in. Our focus is on other areas. We are very strong with Check Point and that's where our focus will continue," he said.
Ellis added that of Unipalm's £50m turnover in 2003, less than 1.5 per cent was attributed to Stonesoft, while Check Point is its largest vendor.
Unipalm holds 49 per cent of the UK market for Check Point and is its largest distributor.
Stonesoft sold about £1m of software in the UK in 2004, according to Pattinson. The company will double this in 2005 by appointing up to 10 tier-one resellers, increasing its accredited resellers from 12 to 30 and concentrating its distribution through e92Plus, he added.
Stonesoft's difficulty in competing with Check Point comes less than three years after a complaint the firm filed in 2002 with the European Commission (EC). Stonesoft alleged that Check Point had discouraged channel partners from selling Stonegate, Stonesoft's firewall product.
Following negotiations with the EC, Check Point agreed not to place "undue or unacceptable pressure on its partners over whether or not they can sell competing products".
Unipalm started distributing Stonegate about five months after the EC ruling. However, Ellis said that Check Point had had no direct influence on the level of support the distributor gave to Stonesoft.