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Security software specialist Trend Micro has launched its global partner program, combining the elements from its regional and North American partner programs.
The rollout of the new program will be completed in the first quarter of 2015, and includes tiered, standardized reseller levels of Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, as well as the addition of a referral partner program to target cloud-era technology service providers and other trusted advisors.
Another feature is dedicated channel account teams, equipped with common standards, processes and performance-measurement guidelines to help partners capitalize on business opportunities.
For instance, in addition to selling stand-alone Trend Micro security solutions, partners now have the opportunity to bundle Trend Micro security offerings with other products they may already be selling such as virtualization and cloud solutions from VMware, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Citrix.
Partners can also bundle the company’s security offerings with complementary products from HP, IBM and others, Microsoft solutions such as Sharepoint, Exchange and Office 365, and converged or integrated infrastructure solutions from Cisco, EMC, IBM, HP, NetApp, VCE and others.
“Our clients rely on us to deliver high-quality, effective solutions that help solve their important security problems, and Trend Micro does an excellent job of delivering these capabilities,” Dan Wilson, co-founder and executive vice president of partner solutions for information security specialist Accuvant, said in a statement. “The new partner program will enable us to more easily bring Trend Micro’s offerings to market and address our clients’ needs.”
Trend Micro has defined discrete partner types, such as distributors, resellers, national resellers, systems integrators, service providers and referral partners, and further segmented its partners based on their core expertise, including security, infrastructure.
The partner program also offers deal-protection compensation for Gold and Platinum levels, and the extension of deal registration to include Bronze partners that have completed one or more specializations.
In addition, the education program has been simplified, aligns with the latest industry standards, and provides two levels of training and certification.
A revamped education portal is designed to help accelerate partner enablement and equip channel team members with knowledge and skill sets to better serve customers and capitalize on sales opportunities.
“After a comprehensive evaluation of our programs, we’ve applied best practices from around the globe to establish a common structure for a single, more cohesive program that can help our partners drive sales like never before,” Partha Panda, vice president of global channels and strategic alliances for Trend Micro, said in a statement. “Most significantly, it will enable us to replicate successful initiatives across all regions to help partners grow their business and increase profitability.”