"Once Watchguard as a brand is established, we will get our solution partners involved in the services model"

Watchguard is not well-known in the Indian market. How are you going to
create a better brand recall?

Watchguard has been in the Indian market for the past three years operating out
of its Chennai and Bangalore offices. Both have been driving several initiatives
in terms of market and brand awareness.

Matt Cannard Product Marketing Manager, Watchguard Technologies

Watchguard has been the old daddy in the firewall appliances. We were the
first guys to come out with an appliance. But over a period of time, it started
looking inward in terms of technology, rather than outward. It noticed that
people did not know about Watchguard, its technologies or products. But with the
new people on board, we will create more awareness about all these things.

How are you going to achieve this objective?

We have already started with a marketing campaign for our new product,
Firebox X, with roadshows across different cities. Today, we have close to 13
Watchguard Secure Partners (WSP). We are now expanding this partner base.

Once we get the channel to us, we want to move the existing
WSPs up the ladder. This will be done by investing in their business, doing a
lot of events with them, demonstrating the products, training and certifying
them.

Will all these WSPs be merely box pushers or will they be
solution providers?

Traditionally our partners have been systems integrators. What we have done
is that we have taken a couple of them and are helping them upscale into
development partners. There are lot of players who are hardware, software and
security sellers. They have their own homegrown accounts and have their strong
areas. We want to align ourselves with them as our key WSP by complementing our
solutions with their own. We have appointed two such partners in Delhi and
Mumbai.

We have two distys, Ingram Micro and Select Technologies.
Ingram sells what sells, but it is also changing their model a little bit by
getting into the value-add mode. And our product is part of their enterprise
solution group.

How are you going to equip your partners to make the shift
to solution providing?

We have 10-15 systems integrators, who are solutions providers, who fit in
each and every product and then position them to a specific customer vertical.
The likes of the Wipros and Tata Infotechs are also moving into the service
area.

We have a Managed Security System (MSP) program where we
target this SI partners where their service is huge. What we want to do is that
once our brand is established, we will get our solution providing partners
involved in the services model. We know that without a services revenue arm,
there would not be product sales.

Why is it that Watchguard is focusing on the Indian
subcontinent so late in the day?

Watchguard is well poised to get to the SME and enterprise segment, because of
our product range and the company strategy that we have. And globally, according
to IDC figures, we are #2 security appliance provider for the mid-sized
companies.

And I would like to point out we have invested in the
country. We have a 100-seater call center in Noida and we have offices and
personnels in Bangalore and Chennai. So this shows that we are serious about
building our business in India.

VINITA BHATIA