SonicWall to go 100% channel following Dell spinoff

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Security business Sonicwall has today officially become a separate company from Dell Technologies. The separation of the company from Dell was announced back in June as part of the company's plan to sell off its software division following its record-breaking acquisition of EMC.

Speaking to Channel Pro, Florian Malecki, EMEA SonicWall spokesman, said: "For resellers, we're going to keep the three different tiers, but with new names -- gold, silver and bronze. The existing resellers, at least Premier and Preferred (the equivalent of gold and silver in the new programme), will be invited to join the Secure First programme. Effectively, they will be grandfathered into the new programme, but they will have to accept the new T&Cs."

The companies will still remain close with Dell Technologies, which will become a reseller for SonicWall.

"Before we got acquired by Dell, we were part of the Dell Software and Referral Partner Program, so Dell, especially in the US, Dell was a very large partner for us," Malecki explained

"Being part of Dell, Dell was able to sell directly to an end user customer, but even then a big chunk of the SonicWall business was fulfilled through the channel," he said. "Moving forward, when we are SonicWall, it will be exclusively channel model and ... Dell will be a reseller as well."

Dipanjan Deb, CEO of Francisco Partners, which now co-owns SonicWall with Elliott Management, said: "SonicWall has built loyal relationships with customers and channel partners in 40 countries worldwide. This acquisition will better enable SonicWall to continue their journey in delivering world class network security solutions to their large and dedicated base of customers, and continue to innovate in their product portfolio."

Jane McCallion is Managing Editor of ITPro and ChannelPro, specializing in data centers, enterprise IT infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Before becoming Managing Editor, she held the role of Deputy Editor and, prior to that, Features Editor, managing a pool of freelance and internal writers, while continuing to specialize in enterprise IT infrastructure, and business strategy.

Prior to joining ITPro, Jane was a freelance business journalist writing as both Jane McCallion and Jane Bordenave for titles such as European CEO, World Finance, and Business Excellence Magazine.