Check Point makes first Platinum appointment for four years

Bytes-owned Security Partnerships joins Integralis, HP, 2e2 and SecureData in security vendor's invitation-only tier

Security Partnerships' success in bringing new business to Check Point has secured it a berth in the security vendor's invitation-only Platinum partner tier.

Check Point's UK Platinum partner line-up has remained static since 2008, when MIS (now SecureData) was promoted to join incumbents Integralis, HP Enterprise Security Services (then Vistorm) and 2e2 (then Netstore).

Terry Greer-King, UK managing director of Check Point, said Security Partnerships got the nod based on the growth of its revenue and new customer tally, as well as its ability to push a wide array of its software blade solutions.

"Security Partnerships has led the way in selling a good blend of Check Point products," he said. "They get the message that what is good for us is to deploy a security gateway with a number of security technologies on it, rather than an individual firewall or IPS."

Security Partnerships grew revenue for its year to 31 July to £10.5m, with about 40 per cent of its product sales coming from Check Point.

It is the second top-tier vendor badge the VAR has bagged since it was acquired by Bytes last summer, the other being a Platinum accreditation from Websense in January.

Managing director John Gilbertson said the VAR had grown its Check Point revenue 30 per cent last year by pushing the vendor's newer technologies, such as its IPS, anti-bot and DLP blades. Last year, it won 140 new customers in total, he added.

"One of the key reasons we got promoted is that we are winning new customers for Check Point, not just farming them for renewals," Gilbertson said. "A lot of companies are going after Check Point support contracts and not adding anything to the table."

Security Partnerships plans to swell its headcount from 29 to 39 over the next two months, he added.

Greer-King said: "Acquisitions can sometimes be a time of change - and not always for the better - but we are pleased to see Security Partnerships' acquisition by Bytes has gone incredibly well."