SilverSky Expands Services With Channel Uptick

SilverSky, the company formerly known as Perimeter E-Security, has been undergoing some major branding and product changes lately. And now the Millford, Conn.-based cloud security firm is priming for a channel partner uptick.

First, the firm attempted to clear up some confusion regarding its name and branding. To do that, the firm rebranded itself last week as SilverSky Inc., a move that united Perimeter E-Security and USA.Net brands under one umbrella.

Now the firm is on an active campaign to expand its cloud services capabilities – with the channel being one of the most significant growth catalysts. The firm is on an active partner recruitment effort for its two channel programs, reseller and referral.

“SilverSky’s broad suite of differentiated services – from integrated cloud security to compliance and messaging services – provide our partner organizations with a one-stop-shop for their customers’ email security needs,” said Tim Harvey, SilverSky CEO. “Our Web-based SilverSky management console is fully partner-enabled, providing reseller partners with valuable insights into their own customers and service usage trends. This deeper customer engagement empowers reseller organizations to continuously enhance their own services and differentiate themselves from the competition.”

And fueling the campaign is a concerted plan to expand the company’s cloud services play.The security vendor jumpstarted that effort by investing more than $20 million over the past four years to develop a strong cloud-based security portfolio, with all of the offerings available to partners as a ready-to-go SaaS solution. That investment, in turn, aims to provide an attractive springboard from which partners can launch a diverse spate of security, compliance and auditing services.

With that in mind, SilverSky recently rolled out a slew of cloud-based services aimed at providing an end-to-end security experience for customers. One of the featured highlights was the recent launch of a new cloud-based e-mail security suite encompassing archiving, continuity, encryption, security and DLP  – all geared for for e-mail platforms.

The services roll-out also incorporates a network protection suite, another Saas-based solution touting vulnerability management, Web security, log management, mobile device management and brand protection.

And the company is attempting to get those services off the ground by giving partners access to its SilverSky management console, the mechanism behind its endpoint protection services that offers anti-virus and anti-spam security, e-mail business continuity, compliance archiving, e-mail encryption and a fully integrated and e-mail data loss prevention  (DLP) services.  Partners then can offer their own unique medley of security services, while upping value by streamlining deployment, management and customer support.

Undoubtedly, SilverSky is upping its presence in cloud security markets. But its predecessor Perimeter E-Security was sowing the seeds throughout much of 2012. Perimeter made a concerted cloud MDM push with a launch designed to go toe-to-toe with similar roll-outs from Sophos Ltd. and other competitors.

Prior to that, Perimeter set the stage for its cloud endeavors by introducing a cloud-based backup and archiving solution, dubbed Archive Anywhere, intended to support Microsoft’s Office 365 offering.

Now it seems as though SilverSky is picking up where Perimeter and USA.NET left off. And its investments could pay off. A TechNavio report maintained that the global cloud security software market is expected to reach $963.4 million in 2014, growing at a CAGR of 41.4 percent from $241 million in 2010.

But that exponential growth is also not lost on a host of other pure play cloud competitors, such as Zscaler Inc.,which recently carved a differentiating niche with the introduction of single-sign on to its cloud security offering.

Other challengers include “Big Three ” player Trend Micro Inc., which will undoubtedly remain true to its cloud security focus with related product refreshes and new roll-outs.

Meanwhile, many cloud security services are reaching their stride. Even still, partners are still finding a balance that keeps margins high as they transition from traditional reseller models to recurring subscription-based revenue streams.

For SilverSky, having a robust and comprehensive security services portfolio is a strong start. But SilverSky will need to be diligent about competitive releases that place it a few strides ahead of competition while keeping partners profitable if it wants to continue to increase its presence in the space.