Top Layer builds its channel presence 20 July, 2006 By Alan Thwaits

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Top Layer, with headquarters in Westborough, Massachusetts, and sales and support presence in Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, and the U.K., brought its first product to market in 1999 and recently turned its first profit. Now the company, as it focuses on growing its reseller channel across North America, has appointed Joseph Eskew and Dante Tuccero to its management team, Eskew as senior director of North American channels in Top Layer's western region and Tuccero as director of North American channels east.

"For Top Layer Networks, working closely with our channel partners is crucial to meeting the growing interest in our IPS 5500 intrusion prevention solutions, and ensuring customer satisfaction over the long-term," said Peter Rendall, president and CEO of Top Layer Networks. "We are happy to welcome two successful sales and channel executives that bring to Top Layer a strong track record of driving channel growth and expanding business opportunities. We look forward to the positive impact that both Eskew and Tuccero will have on Top Layer and our partners, who'll be able to benefit from their deep channel and sales expertise."

Top Layer sells its network security solutions to Global 2000 enterprises, service providers, and government agencies, focusing on the financial services, healthcare, retail/e-commerce, education, and critical infrastructure segments. Its family of Intrusion Prevention Solution appliances is designed around ASIC-based, high performance, deep packet inspection hardware architecture and intrusion prevention software, combined with its SecureCommand management solution and TopResponse Automated Update service.

"Our solution is hardware accelerated, with performance advantages, low latencies, and high bandwidth," explained Rendall. "We serve the medium to large enterprise carrier market, with customers who want best-of-breed solutions."

The IPS 5500 can be deployed at the perimeter, on internal network segments, remote site locations, or at the network core. Users can manage these products via Top Layer's SecureCommand centralized management solution. The IPS 5500 solution is designed to ensure business continuity, meet compliance requirements, and protect confidential data and mission-critical applications.

Top Layer launched its North American channel program in Q1 of 2006, and now has reseller partners across North America, including one in Canada. The recent appointments of Eskew and Tuccero are part of Top Layer's strategy to find partners who are "a focused, strategic fit" with the company, according to Rendall.

Eskew, who most recently served as vice president of worldwide sales at Citrix Systems' Gateway Division, and previously held vice president roles at Inxight Software and the TIS division of Network Associates, and sales management positions at Oracle, Wyse Technologies, and Xerox will be responsible for the growth of Top Layer's Western region reseller channel. Tuccero will be responsible for building Top Layer Networks' channel program in the Eastern region of North America. Tuccero most recently led the Northeast region channel effort for Trend Micro, and previously held positions with Raptor Systems (acquired by Symantec), Content Technologies, and Entercept Security Technologies (acquired by McAfee).

"We're aiming at broad coverage throughout the U.S., and will expand on our premier partners," said Rendall. "