Features

Features

• Qualys Partner Program Checklist

  Solution providers and value-added resellers offering vulnerability management and policy compliance solutions may be interested in learning more about Qualys and it's reseller program, outlined here.  Continue Reading

• Channel Explained: 10 Gigabit Ethernet

  Businesses are demanding more from their networks, and technology is responding. With the availability of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GigE) and compatible products, should you be upgrading your clients' infrastructures? In this Channel Explained you'll ...  Continue Reading

• EMC Partner Program Checklist

  Learn the benefits of becoming an EMC reseller partner with our standardized checklist that allows you to compare programs.  Continue Reading

• What are the criteria for successful network performance management?

  Network performance management must meet the client's goals, and every client is different. Solution providers must understand the client's definition of success and apply those criteria to the current project.  Continue Reading

• Managed backup services: Pros and cons of hosting approaches

  There are two basic approaches to providing managed backup services: reselling services from another provider or, for brave and deep-pocketed providers, building your own NOC. Find out the pros and cons of each approach.  Continue Reading

• AirMagnet Partner Program Checklist

  Value-added resellers and solution providers offering wireless LAN security solutions can review the benefits of becoming an AirMagnet reseller partner.  Continue Reading

• What are the challenges of a network performance management project?

  Ultimately the solution provider is responsible for effective and efficient deployments, and verifying that the client's network performance management project meets their expectations. A solution provider should take the time to master a particular...  Continue Reading

• What is the budget for the network performance management project?

  A client won't pay for a solution that's more expensive than the problem, so understand the client's budget constraints early in the network performance management project. Money will limit the technology and services you offer the client.  Continue Reading

• ESET Partner Program Checklist

  Solution providers seeking an antivirus vendor partner can get an overview of ESET's reseller partner program.  Continue Reading

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager summary

  This section summarizes and reviews the topics covered in this chapter excerpt of Cisco Unified Communications Manager.  Continue Reading

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager licensing

  This section of the chapter excerpt focuses on the certification and licensing opportunities of Cisco Unified Communications Manager.  Continue Reading

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager - Hardware, Software and Clustering

  This chapter excerpt covers the compatible hardware and software for Cisco Unified Communications Manager, as well as its clustering capabilities.  Continue Reading

• Top five email archiving tools

  Find out which email archiving tools are worth hanging your service provider hat on -- and how to make the best use of them.  Continue Reading

• Software and network design upgrades for high-availability apps

  While hardware forklifts or upgrades can deliver high availability for your customers' applications, application performance and availability can often be improved through less ambitious network infrastructure upgrades. In this installment of our ...  Continue Reading

• Check Point NGX R65 FAQs

  This last section of the chapter excerpt will provide answers to Frequently Asked Questions.  Continue Reading

• New FireWall-1/VPN-1 features in Check Point NGX R65

  Learn about the new firewall features included in Check Point's NGX R65.  Continue Reading

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager Architecture - Introduction

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• Cisco Unified Communications Manager Overview

  This chapter excerpt provides a general overview and explains some of the new features of Cisco Unified Communications Manager.  Continue Reading

• Summary of Check Point's NGX R65

  This last section of the chapter excerpt will summarize the material covered in the previous chapters.  Continue Reading

• Network firewall vendors

  Before deciding on a network firewall vendor, check out this Partner Program Directory. Use these checklists to compare partner programs of network firewall vendors.  Continue Reading

• WatchGuard Partner Program Checklist

  Solution providers interested in selling UTM and remote access appliances can learn about WatchGuard's reseller and MSP partner programs in this standardized partner program checklist.  Continue Reading

• BMC Software Partner Program Checklist

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• Providing managed backup services

  Providing managed backup services has some major advantages over traditional backup, but it also has some disadvantages. Find out how it can help you address your customers' biggest backup pain points, as well as what pain points you're likely to ...  Continue Reading

• Network hardware for high-availability applications

  High-availability applications are only highly available if your client has the network capacity to support them without any hiccups. Learn how to make the right network upgrades -- from cabling to switches to servers to WAN connections -- to ensure...  Continue Reading

• Five questions to ask in a data deduplication project

  When scoping out a customer's data deduplication project, there are five key questions to explore with your customers to determine the best approach to take. Learn what questions you should ask and why they're important.  Continue Reading

• Check Point's NGX R65's Integrity Advanced Server

  This section of the chapter excerpt helps users deal with managing the Integrity Advanced Server.  Continue Reading

• Channel Explained: Integrated endpoint security suites

  Integrated endpoint security suites combine multiple security functionalities into a single package to protect your client's desktops and laptops from malware and intrusions. Read this Channel Explained to learn more about these suites, their ...  Continue Reading

• Marketing development funds: How to get a bigger piece of the MDF pie

  Hard work and smarts can bring you bigger market development funds from vendor partners. Find out what strategies are likely to bring you the biggest slice of the marketing development funds pie.  Continue Reading

• Channel Business How-tos

  SearchITChannel.com's Channel Business How-To series provides actionable advice for managers of channel businesses. You'll find high-level, but highly specific, tips for running a successful reseller, service provider or IT consulting business.  Continue Reading

• Market development funds tutorial

  Your vendor partners can be your biggest allies. Find out how to get the most from their market development funds programs and learn how MDF programs fit within vendors' overall channel partner strategies.  Continue Reading

• Understanding the impact of high-availability applications on the network

  Applications and their data must be available in order to be useful. Value-added resellers and solution providers must ensure application availability any time new software is added or updated, or any time that changes are made to the client's ...  Continue Reading

• Jatheon Technologies Partner Program Checklist

  Learn the benefits of becoming a Jatheon Technologies reseller partner with our Partner Program Checklist.  Continue Reading

• What's new in Windows Server 2008 security

  Microsoft has ramped up security features in Windows Server 2008, both for back-end infrastructure and at the drive and file levels. Learn about the new Windows Server 2008 security provisions, including branch office security, network access ...  Continue Reading

• RSA/EMC Partner Program Checklist

  Learn the benefits of becoming an RSA/EMC reseller partner with our Partner Program Checklist.  Continue Reading

• What is the proper methodology for security site assessments?

  Over the years, security assessment methodology has changed. Learn the best practices and methodology for conducting a successful security site assessment.  Continue Reading

• Are there any relevant policy, compliance or third-party attestation issues?

  Before executing a security site assessment, service providers should establish the standards that the assessment must meet. Learn why it's important to identify standards such as relevant policies, compliance and third-party attestation.  Continue Reading

• What type of security assessment does the client want?

  Security site assessments can vary based on what is required of the consultant or service provider. Learn about the different types of security assessments: black-, white- and gray-box.  Continue Reading

• What are the tangible deliverables of the security assessment?

  Learn what standard deliverables are for a security site assessment and how to tailor them to the expected audience.  Continue Reading

• Has a kick-off meeting been held for the security site assessment?

  As the execution of a security site assessment begins, service providers should hold a formal kick-off meeting with their clients. Learn what aspects of the assessment should be discussed at this meeting.  Continue Reading

• Do you have a planned schedule for the security assessment?

  Before conducting a security site assessment, you need to determine when you'll do it. Learn what factors to consider when planning your schedule.  Continue Reading

• How to guarantee customer satisfaction after a security assessment?

  After a security site assessment, you should perform quality assurance tasks to ensure customer satisfaction. Find out how service providers can guarantee this satisfaction from their customers and future customers.  Continue Reading

• What is the scope of the assessment?

  Before beginning a security assessment on IT systems, service providers should discuss the scope of the assessment. Learn why it is important to decide the scope of an assessment before its execution.  Continue Reading

• Edge support for Check Point NGX R65's CLM

  This section of the chapter excerpt will focus on providing edge support for CLM.  Continue Reading

• New SmartPortal features in Check Point NGX R65

  This section of the chapter excerpt will focus on the SmartPortal and Firewall features for VPN security.  Continue Reading

• Advantages and disadvantages of Hyper-V

  Microsoft's Hyper-V is at the release candidate stage, and some companies already have it in production use. Find out the advantages and disadvantages of the virtualization tool so you can help customers at a server virtualization decision point.  Continue Reading

• What are vertical markets and why are they important to the channel?

  VARs and resellers often specialize in one or more vertical markets to help target new clients and increase account penetration. Read how to make the most of vertical market opportunities.  Continue Reading

• How to overcome managed security service provider challenges

  Managed security service providers (MSSPs) face a myriad of technical challenges in the infrastructure they develop, the tools they employ and the processes adopted to drive services. There are also numerous business challenges that make it ...  Continue Reading

• How does virtualization affect disaster recovery?

  Learn about the important role that virtualization plays in disaster recovery.  Continue Reading

• How do business continuity and disaster recovery differ?

  There are subtle differences between business continuity and disaster recovery. Learn about those differences and what they mean for your customers.  Continue Reading

• Are there drawbacks to online backup?

  Online backup may present service opportunities, but can also be problematic. Learn about some of the potential drawbacks to online backup.  Continue Reading

• What is disaster recovery?

  Learn what exactly constitutes disaster recovery and how many different levels of disaster recovery exist.  Continue Reading

• What's the role of tape backup in disaster recovery?

  Tape was once the most important component of disaster recovery. Learn how this role has changed and what role tape backup plays in disaster recovery today.  Continue Reading

• Technology requirements for managed security service providers

  Managed security service providers require sophisticated IT infrastructure to accommodate multiple clients. This demands a significant up-front investment in hardware, and often requires the custom development of business tools, which can lengthen ...  Continue Reading

• Thin provisioning explained and defined

  Implementing thin provisioning at customer sites can save big money by improving storage utilization rates. To deliver those savings to customers, storage VARs need to understand the benefits and limitations of thin provisioning, its impact on VARs ...  Continue Reading

• Must-have network administration tools

  Having the right network administration tools can boost efficiency and productivity. Learn which types of tools are the most useful to resellers.  Continue Reading

• Understanding managed security services: An intro for VARs

  Security is a critical business function that can strain the resources of even dedicated security staff. Corporations are meeting these challenges by outsourcing security tasks to managed security service providers (MSSPs) that specialize in ...  Continue Reading

• Best practices for storage capacity planning

  Storage capacity planning isn't just about predicting your customers' storage growth. While getting a handle on past growth to help predict future growth is important, you should also help customers work toward curbing their storage growth by ...  Continue Reading

• Predicting data storage growth

  If your customers have deep pockets, predicting data storage growth is a relatively easy chore using storage resource management (SRM) tools. But for smaller companies with equally small budgets, you'll need to be more creative. Learn the techniques...  Continue Reading

• What are your regulatory compliance requirements for email security?

  Before deploying an email security project, you must ask your client the right questions. Find out why it's important to know your clients' regulatory compliance requirements before implementing email security.  Continue Reading

• What platform will best fulfill the client's needs?

  When deploying an email security project, you need to make the best recommendations to your clients in terms of products. Learn which platforms to recommend, based on your client's needs.  Continue Reading

• Ten steps to wireless LAN security

  Value-added resellers (VARs) and integrators can add considerable value to their customers' wireless LANs by activating built-in security and integrating third-party security to fill gaps. In this checklist, we describe 10 steps to accomplish this ...  Continue Reading

• Secondary-market resellers thrive in the tech industry

  Many businesses are jumping off the new-equipment merry-go-round and turning to the secondary market, keeping their infrastructure alive for up to a decade. Find out how resellers in the secondary market have emerged to meet end-user tech needs, ...  Continue Reading

• TCP/IP offload engine (TOE) cards

  TCP/IP offload engines have found a niche within iSCSI SANs as a method of shifting processing work off the host CPU. While TOE cards aren't a panacea for reducing your customers' network traffic, they do have potential beyond iSCSI. Find out how ...  Continue Reading

• The benefits of storage capacity planning

  Storage capacity planning services can save your customers money and bring other benefits by balancing their storage utilization and growth rates with their tolerance for upgrade interruptions and storage architecture.  Continue Reading

• Systems products to pay attention to

  Discover what experts, readers and TechTarget editors deemed the most noteworthy systems products of 2007.  Continue Reading

• The best networking products as chosen by customers

  Choosing networking products for your line card can be a challenge. We recommend you begin by considering the hardware and software businesses like best. Here you'll find the top three networking products as chosen by SearchNetworking.com readers in...  Continue Reading

• The benefits of application virtualization

  Application virtualization can bring benefits to your customers such as ease of maintenance and greater portability. It comes after server virtualization and can be the right solution when desktop virtualization is overkill.  Continue Reading

• How to become a managed service provider

  The managed service provider (MSP) business holds promise for value-added resellers (VARs) looking to expand their business or migrate away from reselling. Value-added resellers can find techniques and tips on how to become a managed service ...  Continue Reading

• How to build a managed service provider business

  With hardware and software sales increasingly commoditized, the motivation for building a managed service provider business has never been greater, but getting from Point A to Point B isn't so easy. We explain what the risks are and how to make a ...  Continue Reading

• Tufin Technologies Partner Program

  Tufin Technologies offers a firewall operations management solution that enables large enterprises to greatly enhance the effectiveness of their firewall policies. Employing patent-pending technology, Tufin's SecureTrack™ supports Check Point,...  Continue Reading

• Customers' favorite security hardware and software

  With hundreds of information security products available, choosing the right one can be daunting. Here are the top products chosen by "Information Security" magazine readers -- your customers.  Continue Reading

• The benefits of desktop virtualization

  Desktop virtualization is quickly picking up steam as a viable alternative to traditional distributed desktop architectures. Find out its key benefits and the different methods of implementation.  Continue Reading

• NETGEAR Partner Program

  Learn about NETGEAR's partner program in this standardized checklist.  Continue Reading

• Juniper Networks Partner Program Checklist

  Learn about Juniper Networks' partner program in this standardized checklist.  Continue Reading

• How do vendor partner programs create value for the channel?

  As far as channel partners are concerned, vendor partner programs are only as good as the benefits they deliver. Learn three important ways in which vendor partners create value for channel partners.  Continue Reading

• How should a vendor partner program complement the channel partner's core business?

  When choosing a vendor partner program, it's crucial to make sure that it complements, and doesn't conflict with, your core business. The idea in adding vendor partners is not to replace a service provider's core offerings or add extra staff.  Continue Reading

• What activities will ensure a successful vendor partner program launch?

  Internal preparation is key to the successful launch of a vendor partner program. Learn some best practices for preparing your organization for the successful launch of a new vendor partner program.  Continue Reading

• Ideally, what would a channel partner hope to find in a channel program?

  The best vendor partner programs have several things in common. Learn the traits of vendor partner programs that will give you the greatest chance of a successful partnership.  Continue Reading

• What are the standard margins and volume requirements in vendor partner programs?

  Margins and volume requirements vary across the different vendor partner programs. Learn how to determine whether the margins and volume requirements offered in a vendor partner program are reasonable.  Continue Reading

• What should channel partners look for in a vendor partner program?

  Not all vendor partner programs are created alike. Learn why money, ease of entry and reseller support are essential components of a good vendor partner program.  Continue Reading

• What are the questions a reseller should ask in evaluating vendor partner programs?

  Evaluating vendor partner programs is easier when you ask the right questions. Learn the five questions you should ask about your business when evaluating vendor partner programs.  Continue Reading

• Managed services contracts

  Value-added resellers venturing into managed services need to consider the details of the managed services contract they provide to customers. Learn what goes into a managed services contract in this edition of Channel Explained.  Continue Reading

• Has a data inventory been conducted?

  The data your client needs to secure can exist on many devices, such as SANs, servers and flash drives, so an inventory of client data repositories is essential for a data storage security project that meets a client's needs.  Continue Reading

• What type of compliance reporting do you need?

  Because many clients implement data storage security for compliance reporting reasons, it's important to understand what sorts of compliance reports the client needs to generate.  Continue Reading

• Do you have a policy for decommissioning end-of-life storage hardware?

  Security policy should provide guidance for the organization on how to decommission storage hardware containing unprotected information. Learn why such guidance is vital to any data storage security project.  Continue Reading

• How will you assume data storage security duties?

  Your client's data storage security concerns don't end when you produce your deliverables and pack up your laptop. Learn why it's important to walk clients through the assumption of responsibilities for data storage security once the project ends.  Continue Reading

• Remote office/branch office (ROBO) storage services

  ROBO storage services make use of technologies in use at SMBs and large companies to address customers' remote office/branch office disaster recovery and backup needs.  Continue Reading

• Networking hardware vendors

  Selecting a networking hardware vendor can be confusing if you don't know the ins and outs of potential vendors' partner programs. Use our organized Partner Program Directory to assess the standardized checklists for each router and switch vendor's...  Continue Reading

• ADTRAN Partner Program Checklist

  Learn about ADTRAN's partner program in this standardized checklist.  Continue Reading

• Printer services

  Change is afoot in the printer services market as managed services take hold and vendors nudge their way in. Find out how to stay competitive in this increasingly commoditized space.  Continue Reading

• Data security: Alternatives to data leak prevention

  Data leak prevention technology has its drawbacks. Fortunately, these weaknesses can be addressed with more established technologies such as encryption and data rights management.  Continue Reading

• XPath, command and directory traversal injection attacks

  Learn about XPath, command and directory traversal injection attacks and how they might affect your customer's network.  Continue Reading

• XXE, LDAP and buffer overflow injection attacks

  Learn about XXE, LDAP and buffer overflow injection attacks.  Continue Reading

• Testing for injection attacks

  Unless properly tested for, exposure to injection attacks can be more apparent in your cilents' ntworks than you think. Learn how to test for vulnerability to injection attacks as we wrap up this chapter on common injection attacks.  Continue Reading

• What are the physical network considerations?

  The physical network, including the network cables, is an important part of any network design project. Learn best practices for making sure the physical network is properly configured and the WANs and LANs are able to support the business needs of ...  Continue Reading

• What routing protocols will you use in a network design project?

  OSPF and EIGRP are popular routing protocols and both can play a role in network design projects. Learn the differences between OSPF and EIGRP routing protocols and why each one brings benefits to your network design.  Continue Reading

• What is the client's network topology?

  The network topology is the structure of your client's network, and it has to be taken into account before beginning a network design project. Then the topology can be modified to suit current and future client n  Continue Reading

• How will you protect your client's network?

  Learn why protecting your network is an essential part of good network design. Network protection goes beyond firewalls to include business rules, policies and procedures.  Continue Reading

• Is the network design approved by the vendor?

  Learn why it's important that your network design be vendor-approved. The reasons include, but aren't limited to, vendor support.  Continue Reading

• Pair data leak prevention product sales with consulting services

  Data leak prevention product sales open the door to consulting opportunities for VARs. Learn what consulting services to offer.  Continue Reading