Cyberoam appliance offers identity based UTM

Security vendor Cyberoam is expanding its channel program to sell its new unified threat management (UTM) appliance.

Cyberoam calls the appliance the first identity-based UTM on the market, meaning it controls access based on information in access-control lists about the user — not on the machine being used to connect to the network.

The vendor has enlisted the help of a marketing firm, Marketlink Technologies, and formed a channel partner advisory board to attract more value-added resellers (VARs) to the 100%-channel-driven initiative.

One of the first VARs to sign on was Creative Breakthroughs of Troy, Mich. Steve Barone, the reseller’s president, expects small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and the remote offices of enterprise companies to make up the vast majority of buyers.

Cyberoam has a window of opportunity of about six months to sell the identity-based UTM before market leaders like Fortinet and Juniper Networks come up with similar solutions, Barone said. Cyberoam is targeting the top 4% of VARs for its channel program, said David Glenn, the director of U.S. channel sales.

“We’re really looking for people that either have a hole in their existing product set or are really focused on security,” he said.

– Colin Steele