Network Box Offers New Reseller Opportunities, Robust UTM

Earlier in March 2011, our sister site MSPmentor took a look at network security company Network Box and its DLP solutions. Recently, I had a chance to talk to Network Box CTO Pierluigi Stella to get a better understanding of the technology as well as the company’s channel opportunities and growth. Read on for the details.

Stella noted Network Box’s Linux-based UTM box, which features multiple layers of protection, sets the company apart from its competitors. The hybrid solution has three types of firewalls, he said, giving users flexibility in creating rules for the firewall and making the unit run faster.

Network Box UTMs come with two intrusion prevention systems and one intrusion detection system that sit in line behind the firewall. Stella said this layered approach allows for a consistently more granular level of protection that streamlines the detection process.

“When packets roll into the box, if the firewall drops it first, then you don’t need the deep-packet inspections,” he said, noting this method for detection allows catching previously undetected or new malware on the fly. Within 45 seconds, that data is shared among all other Network Boxes globally, which Stella said happens about 300 times a day. E-mail security, antispam and antivirus systems are all layered inside the UTM too, including a chain of antivirus system that includes virus definitions from Kaspersky Lab.

Customers, apparently, are happy with this approach; Network Box’s retention rate in the United States is 98 percent, Stella said. Resellers are happy, too, since the device doesn’t cost anything to the end user, and it doesn’t cost anything to sell. Essentially, resellers just have to drop in the box, and they’re entitled to 30 percent of the service fees.

Stella pointed out partners can reap other revenues from the service as well. “Resellers can provide extra support,” such as taking on the customer’s IT admin management work. “[Resellers] can … do something like run a report, or consult the customer based on the report. … Some of our resellers are making $300,000 a year not doing anything. They have to build up to that, of course.”

Currently, the majority of Network Box’s 30 U.S. resellers reside in Texas. But the company is looking to recruit new resellers, though not “too many, to avoid overlapping,” Stella said. The company recently stopped selling direct — instead focusing all its efforts on the channel — and Stella said there has never been a better time to jump on board. “We are recurring one [new reseller] every day!”

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