Blue Coat tweaks WAN channel program

Blue Coat has added a WAN Optimisation Partner designation and a Fast-Start enablement to its channel program.

The designation distinguished Blue Coat partners specialising in WAN optimisation and application acceleration, and offered those partners access to specific programs and deal registration.

Resellers earned this designation by meeting technical and sales requirements.

"We want to empower our channel partners to successfully sell the full capabilities of Blue Coat WAN optimisation solutions," said Blue Coat managing director, Australia & New Zealand, Rajeev Mitroo. 

Meanwhile, the Fast-Start program aimed to provide partners with tools and training to quickly build expertise in WAN optimisation.

Selected partners would receive installation support, engineering and sales training, qualified sales leads, and funding for joint marketing campaigns.

Blue Coat has also introduced a try-and-buy program to simplify the evaluation process and reward partners that convert evaluations into sales.

Data Centre

Blue Coat planned to take up an Australian data centre pod to support its Cloud Service in June.

The first subscription module for the Blue Coat Cloud Service was to be Web Security for "real-time web protection".

"We're confident of commercial justification to put a data centre in Australia," Mitroo said. 

Blue Coat senior director of product marketing said Blue Coat had a "modular approach".

"We'll plug more pods as they're needed," he said. 

Blue Coat Systems already has a data centre in Australia for its WebPulse cloud-based defence service.