StoneSoft swells VAR ranks

Security vendor signs Network Defence and Qual as part of growth strategy

Network security vendor Stonesoft has signed two new channel partners as part of its strategy to increase its market reach in 2007.

Security consultancy Network Defence has become a Platinum Partner, and will supply Stonesoft's StoneGate Firewall and IPS software as part of its overall offering.

David Beesley, managing director of Network Defence said: "With many of our customers operating on a 'just-in-time' basis, especially within the retail and manufacturing sectors, they need a high-availability and resilient security solution in place to guarantee network availability at all times, in order to ensure optimum business performance.

"We chose to partner with Stonesoft, as its StoneGate Firewall and IPS offer organisations a cost-effective and resilient means of delivering high availability and network performance, with the additional benefit of being a unified, easily-managed solution."

Juha Kivikoski, vice president Europe and channels, said: "In an increasingly collaborative environment, StoneGate is now required to support critical business functions. Companies' day-to-day operations depend on secure information flow and we are pleased that Network Defence joins our select group of trusted experts who are able to deliver this. Network Defence shares our commitment to customer service and providing the most suitable equipment to each customer, so is a perfect fit with Stonesoft."

Separately the vendor signed Qual as an Authorised reseller. The firm will offer Stonesoft's IPS, firewall, secure socket layer and VPN technology.

Vicky Keene, marketing manager at Qual said: "After considering other network security solutions we found that Stonesoft, with its StoneGate-Multi-Link VPN connections, is the only technology to combine a cost effective, easy to use and straightforward approach to IT security. Stonesoft's refreshing approach to business network implementation, coupled with its reputation for a high standard of service, really made it an obvious choice for a reseller partnership."

StoneSoft's Kivikoski added : "Qual opens up a further customer base for us in the South East of England; and has the experience and commitment to promote Stonesoft's network security solution to the SME, enterprise and public sector markets. Qual's impressive distribution record coupled with its diverse customer base makes this a very beneficial partnership."