Blue Coat hoists up partner programme

Wireless networking vendor Blue Coat Systems has reeled off a list of enhancements to its global channel partner programme.

The changes, which apply to the Blue Coat Channel Advantage Programme, will also be implemented on a local scale in the Middle East and include discount and deal registration improvements, sales and marketing support and greater levels of certifications and training for member partners.

"We are committed to the increasing success of our channel partners and their ability to effectively serve and support customers," said Jim Harold, VP of worldwide channel sales at Bluecoat. "The new enhancements to the Channel Advantage Programme provide partners with more ways to extend our combined reach into key markets as well as to better enable global deployments that are required by today's medium and large enterprises."

As well as the other improvements Blue Coat, which is headed in the Middle East by regional director Nidal Taha, says that it has also added the BlueBox Evaluation Programme and the BlueTouch Support Programme. It explains that the former of these initiatives assists providers in supporting pre-sales product evaluations for prospective customer opportunities and the latter ensures partners achieve greater profitability whilst providing a high level of service.