New SonicWall CEO Bob VanKirk says partners will play a massive role in the company’s next chapter. This comes nearly six years after it divested from Dell Technologies.

SonicWall promoted VanKirk from chief revenue officer. Former president and CEO Bill Conner took on the role of executive chairman of the SonicWall board.

After SonicWall divested from Dell, it relaunched the SonicWall brand and rebuilt its. partner ecosystem. It also added key virtual and cloud capabilities, released its Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI) technology, and delivered its full suite of Gen 7 product and management solutions.

The SonicWall sales team, aligned with their global channel partners, delivered a record 2021 fiscal year. It has also delivering a strong start to the current fiscal year.

SonicWall Partners a ‘Force Multiplier’

In a Q&A, VanKirk talks about his plans in the top leadership role at SonicWall.

Channel Futures: A lot has taken place since SonicWall divested from Dell. What’s the next chapter looking like for SonicWall?

SonicWall’s Bob VanKirk

Bob VanKirk: I think it starts, no question, with our partners and what we are offering [them]. We’re 100% channel-driven and have been for over 30 years. Channels and partners are in our DNA. And with 17,000 partners, they are a force multiplier. Credit where credit’s due: We’ve seen incredible growth over the last couple of years because of our partners. But it’s more than that. It’s also aligning with them around the core capabilities that they can then take to market and offer to customers.

I spent the last three-and-a-half years really ensuring that the sales team and go-to-market (GTM) were aligned with our partners, and totally overhauled that. Now, my direct focus is how I can get the rest of SonicWall better aligned with our products, our capabilities and how we support our partners. Also, key pieces of this are going to be adding key capabilities that will enable our partners to offer new and differentiated cybersecurity solutions.

Scroll through our slideshow for more from VanKirk and more cybersecurity news.