Westcon Distributes Secure Computing Gear

Westcon Inc. Thursday unveiled a distribution pact with Secure Computing Corp. (www.securecomputing.com), a security software vendor.

Under the agreement, Westcon will offer Secure Computings Sidewinder firewall, SafeWord authentication product, and SmartFilter Web filtering software. Secure Computing believes the Westcon alliance will “help us grow our reseller numbers and quality of resellers we have in the field,” says Chris Peterson, vice president of OEM and channel sales at Secure Computing.

Westcon does business with more than 1,000 resellers that sell some type of security product, according to Anthony Daley, general manager of Westcon. He says a large portion of Westcons revenue stems from security products. Westcon Inc. is a unit of Westcon Group, which specializes in networking products (www.westcongroup.com).

Secure Computing runs a three-tiered reseller program, divided in to platinum, gold, and silver categories. In North America, the company currently supports a half dozen platinum resellers, about 25 gold resellers, and more than 30 silver resellers. The silver level is for entry-level resellers, while gold and platinum is for resellers who are certified in either Sidewinder or SafeWord. Resellers can earn up to 33 percent margin based on purchase volume.