Will cloud product and channel-friendly model make a happy Panda? 28 January, 2010 By Mark Cox

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Rick Carlson took over as President last October 1, coming over from AVG Technologies where he was the managing director of North American operations. He was part of a complete revamp of the top Panda team in North America. Keith Lubner became the new VP of Channels, and Sydney Curtis became the VP of Marketing. Panda Security USA also moved its' headquarters to Orlando, Fla., with a regional office remaining in Glendale, Calif.

"This represents a renewed focus for Panda on the U.S.," Carlson said. "Panda was in a similar situation as AVG, European companies which have been successful elsewhere but not in the U.S. The previous management had a focus on the enterprise, so the channel was mainly enterprise focused. But there is just too much entrenchment at the enterprise level for a company coming into the market to compete with."

So why does Carlson expect more success now in the SMB space? He says this is the best example in a company he has been at where the product strategy and product set fit hand in glove with the channel and the channel program. And the key to that is the company's SMB-focused cloud product, Panda Cloud Protection.

"When I took this position, it was simply because of their product," Carlson said. "Our competition doesn't have this kind of product. Where Panda is finding success is with the combination of an extremely aggressive 100% channel program, which gives margins and protection, but also bringing partners a product set that solves things in a much more elegant way. That's what's resonating, the uniqueness of the products and the way they empower the reseller. We really feel we have a product set built from the ground up to empower channel partners, and we have the programs to match it."

"Panda Cloud Protection is a suite of products with a management console online," he said. "As a VAR, you can sit at your desk and manage all of your customers from one unified management console on the web, even if they are on different networks."

Carlson said that Cloud Protection's revenues jumped to more than 20% last year, and that it has become their flagship product. While their traditional server-client software, Panda Security for Business, remains a workhorse product, it lacks the 'wow' factor of the Cloud.

"It's the fastest growing segment of our business," he said. "This isn't a hyped market or an emerging market, but one that people are using right now. People just don't know that a solution like Panda Cloud Protection exists, that enables many locations on different networks to be managed by one person at corporate."

Panda Security has approximately 700 active resellers in the U.S.. Their objective is to grow this number to at least 1,200 in 2010. Panda's recently enhanced channel program features high margins and strong deal and incumbency protection including giving ten points on a registered deal if another partner swoops in and takes the business.

Carlson said that Panda is presently In the process of revamping its' customer service and tech support area to be focused around their resellers, and will soon be rolling that program out.

Panda is also offering a limited term opportunity for resellers as its' three year licenses on direct deals signed before Panda went to an all-channel model in 2008 expire.

"Through our Win-Win program, we will give a deal of similar size from our legacy licenses when they bring us a 50 seat deal of more," Carlson said. "They get two deals for one, and are protected on the renewals."