**Editor’s Note: Click here for a list of recent channel-program changes you should know.**

By Edward Gately

Ping Identity on Monday announced an enhanced partner program aimed at expanding the opportunity to capitalize on the identity access management market, which is predicted to reach $18.3 billion by 2019.

The PingPartner Network provides access to Ping’s Identity Defined Security Platform, including hybrid, cloud and on-premises offerings. It promises faster growth, increased market differentiation and an improved bottom line for all partners.

The new program was announced at the Cloud Identity Summit in San Diego.

Ping currently has more than 100 channel partners that account for 20-25 percent of its sales in North America, and a larger percentage of sales in Europe.

Mike Kane, Ping’s director of business development, tells Channel Partners the enhanced program stems from the “need to support a more diverse range of partners and provide them with more resources to capitalize on new opportunities as demand for identity management solutions grows.”

“For example, as we have expanded into the MSP market with partners like Sprint and NTT, and as the technology needs of our customers evolved, we looked to expand to meet the needs of our partners,” he said.

The new program is crucial to Ping’s 2015 goals to continue the rapid growth it is experiencing, Kane said.

“We know we can’t go at it alone,” he said. “Not only do we need to work with our partners, we need to enable them for both of us to be successful.”

The expanded program offers new partnership options, and clearly defined benefits and requirements for prospective partners in three different programs: Channel, MSPs and Alliances.

In the Channel program, partners can qualify for platinum, gold or referral programs for different levels of support and benefits, including in-person pre-sales training, Web-based trainings, certifications and competitive margins.

The MSP program is single-level with a variety of benefits, including on-location technical support training, pre-sales and post-sale support training, implementation training at Ping, resale and referral margins, a dedicated Ping partner manager, and access to sales and marketing tools.

The Alliance program caters to SaaS providers and technology partners. Depending on an organization’s partner level, program benefits include …

… Web-based sales and pre-sales training as needed, free implementation training on all products, referral margins, a dedicated account manager, testing environments, access to Ping products, and sales and co-marketing investment.

To support the new network, Ping also launched two new online communities to encourage best-practice sharing and provide direct access to the company’s tools and resources.

The community portal gives partners and customers a direct line of access to Ping products, best practices, tips, feedback and questions. The developer portal provides access to software development kits, documentation and code samples, as well as support for OpenID connect.

“Ping Identity has a long history of strong partnerships across the globe that have contributed significantly to our growth,” said Andre Durand, Ping’s CEO. “Our partners are a valuable extension of our own expertise – bringing their capabilities into play and bringing Ping in where they can because we have the most flexible, proven identity solution.”

Ping provides enterprise security to more than half of the Fortune 100, including Boeing, Cisco, Disney, GE, Kraft Foods and Walgreens.