Expansion could double reseller margins

Resellers could be looking at a double in revenue and margin potential over the next one-to-two years on the back of an expansion of WatchGuard’s security products.WatchGuard Technologies announced its move into the messaging and content security markets on Thursday with the release of its new WatchGuard XCS (Extensible Content Security) platform.The platform combines cloud-based in security, data loss prevention and advanced messaging security technologies in a single appliance designed to defend businesses against phishing attacks, identity theft, viruses, malware, data loss as well as other network, application and data threats.Scott Robinson, WatchGuard ANZ Regional Director, says the new XCS line will provide many resellers with a new solution set to address customer spam, content filtering and data leakage prevention requirements.“Next generation threats are becoming more sophisticated and stealthy,” he says. “Because of this, businesses today face unprecedented risk and exposure from email and web-related threats.”By combining the company’s multifunctional firewall appliances with the new XCS line of messaging and content security solutions, businesses are set to gain“complete, multifaceted and multi-layered defense architecture”.Robinson says the XCS line of products, acquired through the Borderware acquisition, delivers “beyond traditional network security to cater to wider business security needs”.The move effectively doubles WatchGuard’s addressable market to over US$11 billion in 2010 – a trend New Zealand partners can look forward to, he says.“I expect to see that XCS will effectively double our channel and partner opportunities in New Zealand over the next 12-24 months.”