And resellers that are trying to stay ahead of the curve may find that some of their most innovative solutions come from a surprising source: their customers.
A plurality of small (31 percent) and midsize VARs (27 percent) see network connectivity as the most innovative security area. Among large VARs, 20 percent cited identity management. But network access, identity management and threat management are viewed as being creative in their own way. Meanwhile, small VARs (23 percent) are anticipating the most innovative gains to be made in threat management in the coming year, while midsize (21 percent) and large VARs (27 percent) see identity management as the hotspot.
One thing resellers of any size generally agree on is that the most useful new security features are ease of updating and automated responses to threats, and the majority of them also feel that the most innovative solutions arise from vendors and solution providers working closely together.
The trick for resellers is to figure out what counterthreats they have in their arsenals. While vendors work away in their labs to create new products, security solution providers are finding that they can be most innovative by creating services for their customers that knit together disparate technologies, whether from one vendor or several different ones.
CSCI, a networking and security solution provider in San Diego, has spent the past few years aggressively building its managed-services practice to complement its product business. One project that Juniper has fleshed out is a sort of matchmaking system in which it pairs VARs with other technology partners wherever they identify a potential fit. Recently, the vendor introduced CSCI to security-services powerhouse VeriSign, allowing the two to create an SMB security-services suite.
http://www.varbusiness.com/sections/technology/tech.jhtml;jsessionid=LBUAOBCWUCKCGQSNDBECKICCJUMEKJVN?articleId=187900121&printableArticle=true