Websense partners cheer Forcepoint relaunch

One channel figure claims newly enlarged Forcepoint could 'set the industry alight'

Websense resellers have cheered the relaunch of the company as Forcepoint, with one partner claiming the move will "set the industry alight".

Last week it was announced that Websense, which was acquired by defence contractor Raytheon last year, has been renamed Forcepoint and the enlarged group has subsumed firewall player Stonesoft and proxy-firewall firm Sidewinder, both from Intel Security.

James Miller, managing director of network security VAR Foursys, told CRN the relaunch was exactly what the company had to do.

"They needed to rebrand to emphasise all the technology coming into the offering," he said. "And they recently signed ex-Intel Security firewall businesses Stonesoft and Sidewinder so they are on the acquisition trail. I think the rebranding to emphasise all the other security technology they have taken on board is an important step for those guys and we are looking forward to it."

Miller said the combination of Websense and Raytheon's cybersecurity technology with the enterprise-level firewalls it has bought makes a formidable force.

"We looked at Stonesoft and were interested in taking on board that technology but before that happened they were acquired by Intel," he said. "But the actual technology is really good; it's right up there. So they have bought a really good enterprise player in the firewall space and then combining that with the existing web technology is such a powerful piece. I think it will set the industry alight."

Lior Arbel, general manager for Europe at Websense VAR Performanta, said the relaunch will create a lot of new opportunities.

"It's definitely opening up new markets for Websense," he said. "Websense was not strong in the big government customers for many years; it was more small to medium-sized enterprises. The partnership with Raytheon definitely opens up new markets for Websense that were not open to them before, which was central government, and [it has] opened new markets for Raytheon more on the commercial side."

But Arbel was not sure what the vendor intends to do with its firewall acquisitions and was not anticipating it to make this move.

"Websense was not a player in the firewall market and to see them potentially get into that was not something I thought they would do," he said. "I can only assume they will take it and not necessarily compete on a next-gen firewall but they will probably introduce a new concept or a new way to integrate it into the business."

This new concept could involve bringing a new SMB-targeted solution to market that combines its data-loss prevention and web and email security with the firewalls to offer a "one-box solution", Arbel said.

Neil Langridge, marketing director at distributor e92plus, said the move was a chance for the vendor to distance itself from past complaints and provide a unique offering.

"There have been some grumblings and there has been a lot of change and that's always difficult," he said. "But I think they have gone through that very well and there has been growth. I think this is an opportunity to kick off and for Forcepoint to really differentiate themselves out there in the market from the competition.

"I think it's good for the channel," he added. "We have been waiting a bit for them to make that next step up in terms of positioning themselves and this is a great opportunity to do it."