Sunbelt seeking channel partners

Security software vendor, Sunbelt Software, is on the hunt for new channel partners in a bid to increase its national footprint.

The US-based company has had a minor presence in Australia selling to selected resellers. It recently teamed up with distributor, SoftGen, who is helping with the channel partner recruitment process.

Sunbelt international sales director, John-Erich Mantius, said the vendor is taking a proactive approach in expanding its channel presence.

“We have typically done our Australian strategy in a reactive manner,” he said. “We want to be more proactive in partnership recruitment and end-user awareness building.

“Our objective is to work closely with our distributor to bring in new SMB-focused reseller partners.”

The company’s channel program three tiers with each level based on a company’s existing position in the market. Silver partners are niche focused, while established businesses in the security space would qualify as Gold. Larger players who have other expectations in terms of margin are put into the Platinum category.

Sunbelt is seeking new relationships across all three tiers but Mantius did not state a specific number to be recruited.

“We don’t want to over-saturate the market,” he said. “We don’t want to be over-distributed or under-represented so we are looking at identifying best of breed channel partners who can help us deliver our message.”

SoftGen, who became a fully-fledged partner of Astaro in February, is the point of contact for potential Sunbelt partners. While it is the only distributor at present, Mantius did not ruled out taking another company on-board.

“Because the relationship is still new, about six months old, we are looking at growing the business through them,” he said. “But if it makes sense to have additional points of distribution then that is a discussion we are willing to have.”

Sunbelt currently has around 200 reseller partners including Dimension Data, Leading Edge Computers and Integrated Solutions.

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