SurfControl & Microsoft in New Channel Internet Security Partnership

SurfControl plc (London:SRF), a world leading Internet security company providing enterprise Web and E-mail filtering, is to initiate a joint sales and marketing campaign with Microsoft by holding a free security briefing at the Microsoft Campus, Reading on Tuesday 12th April '05.

This global initiative, which combines the strength of two leading security products, has been spearheaded out of the UK headquarters of both organisations and is being communicated to the end-user community via a new marketing campaign with the message, 'Together You're Secured'.

The security briefing on April 12th '05 is split into two sessions of equal status and importance. The morning is dedicated to hosting an audience of IT decision makers from some of the UK's largest organisations. "We have been inundated with enquiries from end-users wanting to know more about this and future events," commented Martino Corbelli, SurfControl Marketing Director. "We had to stop registrations weeks ago when we ran out of delegate places way ahead of our expectations. This is proof that Internet security is a priority for every company and that vendors need to collaborate on multiple levels with each other and with their channel partners in order to service these needs."

The afternoon opens up the second part of the day, which is specifically focussed at briefing reseller partners about the opportunities open to them as a result of this security vendor partnership. John Pittaway, UK Security Business Manager, Microsoft Limited explains, "We've designed the afternoon session to appeal to our joint existing reseller base, but also to cast the net wider and get new channel players involved. During the session, the channel delegates will gain an insight into the security strategies of both vendors, and, importantly, find out how they can become more involved and have access to resources that will help them share in the success."

Chris Flynn, SVP of Sales for EMEA at SurfControl puts it simply, "This is a campaign conceived by two vendors committed to making Internet security easier for end users to buy, implement and maintain and consequently easier for the reseller to sell. Our total focus is on fulfilling the demand we generate through these combined efforts through channel partners. What better way to do this than with our back-to-back format for the security briefing on the 12th April? We will create a wave of excitement in the morning within the end-user community and then introduce channel partners in the afternoon to ensure that we engage with them in order to execute effectively."

The underlying market trend that helped conceive this security partnership is that Microsoft ISA Server 2004 is now the most popular platform for organisations wishing to deploy SurfControl Web Filter.

The reseller security briefing will run from 2:00pm through till 5:00pm on the 12th April and will be held at the Microsoft Campus in Reading.