Has SonicWall had a channel clear out?

SonicWall has allegedly issued a round of redundancies impacting channel facing roles across the world, following a sweeping reorganisation of internal resources.

Sources close to ARN have described the move as a “blood bath”, claiming that a host of positions globally, regionally and locally have been axed.

Specifically, sources allege that redundancies impact senior management, including a host of channel directors, channel territory managers, account executives and sales engineers, alongside “significant cuts” across Asia Pacific.

“We are making changes to our global organisational structure to create efficiencies that better focus our resources with the strategic direction highlighted by our new products and services,” a spokesperson for SonicWall told ARN.

“This is not specific to a particular country or region, rather it is driven by an alignment of the right resources in the right areas.”

According to sources, the clear out follows a challenging few quarters for the security vendor, with the business allegedly under “extreme pressure” from parent company Francisco Partners.

“We have established key momentum over the last 18 months, and we’re looking to continue building on that momentum,” the spokesperson added.

“That means building on the strong partner growth, SonicWall University usage and accreditation, partner deal registration, support improvements, and unprecedented new product delivery – over 160 million lines of new code over the last 10 months.

“As we release yet another wave of new products in the coming weeks, SonicWall is positioned to drive even greater growth across expanded market segments. 

“In parallel, we’ll continue to make internal resource and business decisions to optimise the value we deliver to our partners and customers.”

The speculated changes comes three months after the vendor made new additions to its SecureFirst partner program, designed to take aim at managed security services providers (MSSP).

As reported by ARN, the new program is available to all three tiers of SecureFirst – Silver, Gold and Platinum – and includes options for monthly billing through SonicWall’s security-as-a-service pricing model, multi-tenant capabilities and go-to-market branding opportunities.

According to the vendor, the new program will enable partners to "design, launch and scale" MSSP offerings, grow deeper customer relationships; increase profitability by offering recurring, consistent revenue streams and help customers reduce upfront product costs.