3Com thinks VAR safety first

Partner programme launched to boost reseller support in security sector

Networking vendor 3Com intends to harness the growing security market with the launch of a partner programme to boost reseller support in the sector.

The Security Authorised Partner programme, the vendor's first security initiative of this type, will offer resellers discounts, training and certification on 3Com products.

The company is also offering 10 per cent discounts to Certified Partners.

Stanimira Koleva, international channel sales director at 3Com, said security is a priority for the firm's customers.

"We want to provide our networking customers with information about which resellers to work with for security," she said.

The vendor will look for 10 to 15 UK resellers that specialise in security as well as its traditional core networking business. "We want to attract our Focus partners as well as security-focused resellers," said Koleva.

All partners for this scheme must also be a member of the firm's Focus programme.

Keith Humphreys, analyst at EuroLAN Research, said it is important that networking vendors provide their resellers with security support.

"This is the way the market is going, with more and more networking resellers moving into security to meet customer needs," he said.

"Most of the big networking vendors, including Cisco and Nortel, are moving in this direction, and it is important that resellers are supported."

Des Lekerman, managing director of networking reseller Eurodata Systems, said any reseller selling networking today should be well versed in security.

"If you provide a network today it needs to be secure by definition," he said.Lekerman added that this was a good move for 3Com.

"It makes perfect sense for the customer to buy security and networking from the same source," he said.

3Com claimed the programme will attract resellers with different in-house skill sets. "The programme is flexible and will cater to the level of expertise of each partner," Koleva said.