Check Point quintet get SandBlast treatment

Bytes SP, Cygnia, Softcat, Pentesec and Ultima first five partners to sign up to new partner programme for threat prevention range

Check Point has launched a new partner programme for its SandBlast threat prevention range to "differentiate" its resellers in this space.

In September 2015, Check Point unveiled SandBlast, its zero-day protection solution which competes with the likes of Damballa and FireEye. Aatish Pattni, Check Point's head of threat prevention for northern Europe, told CRN the new initiative was driven by the success of the SandBlast technology, with 2,100 clients signed up already.

"Customers are now really pulling towards this," he said. "And with that in mind, we said we need to scale what we are doing and we need to offer our partners the access to the right skill set. The partner community was the natural place to look at, hence the creation of the programme."

The SandBlast Certified partner programme launched globally on 11 February and in the UK five resellers are already signed up: Bytes SP, Cygnia, Softcat, Pentesec and Ultima.

Under the new scheme, which is an addition to the firm's Stars Programme, partners are given increased deal registration value for SandBlast products, extra marketing support with go-to-market campaigns and the availability of demo kit and online demo tools. Resellers on the scheme will also be given a new certification for their engineers and Pattni said he hoped to get another 30 engineers certified across its UK partners.

He said the new initiative will help resellers stand out in the market.

"This is now about being able to differentiate them [the partners] in the market for the work they are doing," he said. "Giving them access to some of the pre-sales kit we have so they can extend their reach even further."

The five partners who have been signed up in the UK were selected based on their sales of SandBlast technology or desire to move more into this market, Pattni said.

He added that he was hoping to sign up more UK resellers to it in the second half of 2016, and that it offers a very attractive channel proposition.

"My background is channel-based and the things I've seen with programmes in the past, is some offer extra margins, some offer extra skillset and some allow partners to really capitalise on a growing market," he said. "This programme is something that offers all those things. Our partners can really go out with the skillset and additional revenue opportunity that customers want to talk to them about."