This past October, Amazon announced their new AWS Consulting Partner Private Offer Program. Rather than having to work through an entirely separate purchasing process, customers can now purchase AWS Marketplace software solutions for their cloud platform directly from authorized Consulting Partners. This approach allows organizations to leverage the expertise of a partner who already has knowledge of their business and perhaps even provides localized support in order to outfit and secure their AWS platform.

Currently, participation by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) like Fortinet is only available through an invitation from AWS, and Fortinet is proud to have been named one of the few vendors selling solutions on the AWS Marketplace to participate. This also allows us to authorize consulting partners to own and maintain their current financial and contractual relationship with those customers that are extending their network to AWS.

Good for Fortinet customers

Fortinet currently offers one of the largest portfolios of security solutions available on Amazon Web Services. Effective cloud security requires the same expertise, and access to the same sophisticated and often specialized technologies deployed in a physical network. And because securing a cloud environment cannot be done in a vacuum, it requires that organizations be able to work with their preferred professional consulting partner with experience in both their security and their cloud requirements.

By extending support to Fortinet resellers, customers now have access to a broad and global selection of certified resellers with specialized networking and security skills, along with best practice knowledge of business verticals such as healthcare, to ensure they can build and maintain the best cloud strategy possible.

Good for Fortinet Channel Partners

Cloud-savvy partners have been clamoring for a real way to make money on the utility consumption models that customers want. And Fortinet and AWS both recognize the real impact that reseller partners have in driving cloud platform and ISV preference. This new program addresses both of these realities by providing a way for resellers to become directly involved in, and compensated for, developing their customer's secure cloud strategy.

Mike McGlynn, VP of Security at Fortinet partner WWT, commented on this new program. "As a Fortinet partner, we can now offer our customers the ability to buy on-demand offerings that Fortinet lists on the AWS Marketplace. Through the Consulting Partner Private Offer program, AWS and Fortinet is ensuring that we are a natural piece in this ecosystem. With our developing expertise in the cloud, we can now also confidently develop expertise in products that are easiest for customers to consume in the cloud, such as Fortinet's broad variety of cloud security products. It is a natural extension of our customer security from on-premises to the cloud."

In the past, reseller partners were only incented to sell perpetual licenses using the BYOL model to customers who were building cloud-based solutions. Today, channel partners who are also AWS Consulting Partners can be selected by Fortinet to participate directly in the supply chain of software that is sold through the AWS marketplace using the PAYG subscription-based procurement model. What this means from a financial perspective is that when a customer subscribes to a particular AWS marketplace product (i.e. FortiGate-VM), the payout for this subscription will be distributed between Fortinet, AWS, and the Channel Partner.

This enables Fortinet channel partners to receive compensation for helping their customers build an effective cloud security strategy that better supports their desired cloud and security preferences, and that is also compatible with their existing network ecosystem, rather than unnaturally pushing customers in a direction that aligns with the channel provider's limited solution options.

Summary

This new opportunity allows Fortinet to partner with resellers looking to play a more significant role in the cloud ecosystems of their security customers by integrating Fortinet's portfolio of security products sold on the AWS marketplace with the cloud-based solutions they are building for their customers. It also enables Fortinet to attract more "cloud-native" consulting firms that are looking to add security capabilities to their offerings. But regardless of which direction this opportunity comes from, whether cloud or security driven, the end result is that customers now have the opportunity to include better and more deeply integrated security solutions into their cloud strategy by leveraging those consulting partners they already know and trust.

Learn more about dynamic security with Fortinet and AWS.

Read more about how Fortinet secures multi-cloud environments with our Security Fabric.

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