NS1, a provider of domain name system (DNS) and traffic management offerings, has expanded its executive sales team and plans to build its first formal partner program.

Warren Mead, previously Nasuni’s vice president of business development and channel sales, has joined the company as vice president of channel and strategic accounts, and will focus on establishing a channel strategy, field alignment and training. He built Nasuni’s strategic alliances for its cloud integrated storage solution.

Rob Clifford, previously SevOne’s vice president of enterprise sales for the Americas, is NS1’s new vice president of sales for North America, and will provide oversight and strategic direction for sales operations and new market expansion.

Mead tells Channel Partners he will build a channel and strategic alliance program from the ground up to align with upcoming product and service launches, and address customers’ cloud and DevOps requirements.

NS1’s Warren Mead

“Historically, NS1 has sold its managed DNS solution in a direct model and with the availability of self-hosted solutions. NS1 is the only provider that supports any deployment model-managed or self-hosted for internal and external networks,” Mead said. “With this, we are shifting to an indirect model. We look forward to announcing more about additional, new solutions in mid-[second quarter].

NS1 has had no formal channel program to date, Mead said.

“We’ll start by developing a partner portal, deal registration and a margin program, which will include margin protection,” he said. “We’ll build partner enablement, the first step of which will be a partner campaign in a box. … When we do launch, we’ll also have established a fast-start partner margin program.”

NS1 has had limited partner engagement in EMEA and is targeting specific partners to build its program.

“We are building a strategic alliance around security solutions, such as Cisco Umbrella, so partners that are selling security today can easily attach NS1 to their current offerings for complete DNS protection along with application traffic management solutions,” Mead said.

It also is targeting partners that are selling application performance management (APM) solutions, as well as partners that deliver DevOps and SD-WAN offerings, he said.

“Partners that have a robust services delivery offering are also key targets for the NS1 channel program,” Mead said. “As we grow our 400-plus customer base, we will need partners to deliver the professional services around the solution.”

NS1’s Rob Clifford

The only way to measure the success of a channel program is in channel-sourced pipeline, he said.

“When your partners are delivering pipeline that converts to revenue, it is a direct result of effective channel enablement and engagement,” Mead said. “Our one-year goal would be for over 50 percent of our qualified pipeline to be sourced by the channel. NS1 will follow a channel methodology of recruit, develop, launch and grow for all of our partners. We will have a sell-with model and focus on quality over quantity when it comes to our channel.”

Clifford said NS1’s leadership and innovation in DNS and application traffic management have positioned the company for “massive growth in this age of IT modernization.”

“I look forward to working with the team in North America to continue to expand our market presence and influence, and improve our value proposition to customers,” he said.