Cyberoam first out the blocks with SonicWall swap scheme

UTM vendor stirs up FUD in wake of rival's acquisition by Dell

Cyberoam has wasted no time putting together a trade-in package for rival SonicWall's customers in the wake of its acquisition by Dell.

The unified threat management (UTM) specialist is first out the blocks with the offer of a free one-year subscription on web content and application, IPS and Anti-X subscriptions for SonicWall customers who trade in their appliances.

SonicWall partners who switch to Cyberoam will benefit from free training, along with membership of its partner programme, the vendor said.

Dell announced a definitive agreement to buy SonicWall from private equity backer Thoma Bravo on Tuesday and immediately pledged its allegiance to its 15,000 resellers. Dell plans to "take the best" of SonicWall's partner programme and combine it with its own PartnerDirect scheme.

However, Harish Chib, senior vice president of new business development at Cyberoam, was quick to question how SonicWall would evolve under Dell's tutelage.

"As it has been seen many times over in the past, product-people-philosophy have not always merged in case of corporate mergers and acquisitions," he said. "Dell's focus has been on the personal computer industry so far and not on security. Dell's takeover of SonicWall business may dilute focus on the security business in the longer term."

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of distributor Wick Hill - which works with SonicWall rival WatchGuard - claimed that some SonicWall VARs may evaluate their options.

"We've competed toe to toe against SonicWall with WatchGuard for many years and we've seen considerable loyalty to Sonic from their partners," he said.

"However, based on migration support from WatchGuard, we've had a number of significant VAR discussions since the announcement and it certainly offers some good opportunities for WatchGuard."

Mark Hyland, UK country manager at Fortinet, said the vendor was already planning a campaign aimed at displacing both SonicWall and WatchGuard in the SME space when news of SonicWall's acquisition broke.

"We are going to redirect it slightly to SonicWall partners," he said.

"SonicWall products are really good products and they have done very well in the UK work out. But I think we will see them take their eye off the ball."