All posts by Matthew Harrell

Cloudflare’s Channel Partner Award winners of 2022

2023-03-16 Matthew Harrell

Post Syndicated from Matthew Harrell original https://blog.cloudflare.com/partner-award-winners-2022/

Cloudflare’s Channel Partner Award winners of 2022

We are thrilled to announce Cloudflare’s worldwide 2022 Channel Partner Award winners. Each of these partner companies and individuals went above and beyond, demonstrating outstanding commitment to working closely with Cloudflare to build technical competencies and to deliver compelling, integrated security and performance solutions for customers around the globe.

This past year was another milestone year, with record-setting growth for Cloudflare and our partners. The Cloudflare Channel and Alliances Partner Program received the highest, 5-star rating in CRN’s Partner Program Guide. New customer bookings acquired through partners jumped over 28% year over year.

In June, we announced the Cloudflare One Partner Specialization, with tailored enablement and new partner go-to-market resources for Cloudflare One, our SASE solution which includes the industry’s first, 100% Cloud-native Zero Trust platform. More than 1,600 partner sellers and technical sellers have completed Cloudflare Zero Trust training courses, enabling them to deliver the most comprehensive security needed in today’s connect-from-anywhere economy.The Cloudflare Channel Partner Network contributed to the significant market traction we’ve seen for Cloudflare One, including partner-sourced pipeline for Cloudflare One growing 240% from Q1 through Q4 of 2022.

As organizations across industries and the public sector require a fast and secure path to Zero Trust architectures, going forward Cloudflare partners will play an even more strategic role in Cloudflare’s growth. We look to our partners to deliver not only Cloudflare solutions but the managed or professional services customers need to help them. For instance, to conduct Zero Trust assessments, migrate from legacy products, integrate with existing technology stacks, and provide ongoing services and support. As notable a year as 2022 was, we are even more excited about what we’ll achieve together with our partners in 2023!

Congratulations to our Partner Award winners, and thank you to all our partners for your dedication and commitment to delivering a faster, more secure, and more reliable Internet for customers and their users globally.

Americas Partner Awards

Master Agent of the Year: AVANT
Honors the top performing Master Agent that has best represented Cloudflare and enabled partners to secure sales and growth revenue streams.

Partner of the Year: Optiv
Honors the top performing partner that has demonstrated phenomenal sales achievement in 2022.

Growth Partner of the Year: Verinext
Honors the partner who made substantial investments to grow our shared business, achieving not only full certification compliance but also exceeding revenue targets.

Technical Excellence Award: Syntax
Honors the partner company whose Solutions Engineers (SEs) demonstrated great knowledge and expertise in leading the customer’s Cloudflare presales and POC experience.

Partner Solutions Engineers Champions of the Year: Niko O’Hara and Stephen Semmelroth (AVANT)
Honors the individual partner SEs who have demonstrated depth of knowledge and expertise in Cloudflare solutions and went above and beyond in delivering the Cloudflare experience for our joint customers.

APJC Partner Awards

Distributor of the Year: Softdebut Co., Ltd.
Honors the top performing Distributor that has best represented Cloudflare and enabled partners to secure sales and growth revenue streams.

Partner of the Year: Kingsoft Cloud
Honors the top performing partner that has demonstrated phenomenal sales achievement in 2022.

New Partner of the Year: Anchor Systems Pty Ltd
Honors the partner who, although new to the Cloudflare Partner Network in 2022, has already made substantial investments to grow our shared business achieving not only full certification compliance but also exceeding revenue targets.

Partner Win of the Year: Union Victory Technologies Development Limited
Honors the partner who has brought in the largest, most strategic deal and deployed a comprehensive end-to-end security, performance, and reliability solution to a customer.

Technical Excellence Award: Omni Intelligent Services
Honors the partner company whose SEs demonstrated great knowledge and expertise in leading the customer’s Cloudflare presales and POC experience.

Certification Champion of the Year: Tokyo Electron Device Ltd
Honors partner companies whose teams earned the highest total number of Cloudflare certifications.

Partner SE Champion of the Year: Leo Liu and Mia Chen (Shanghai Yunceng Technology Ltd)

Honors the individual partner SEs who have demonstrated depth of knowledge and expertise in Cloudflare solutions and went above and beyond in delivering the Cloudflare experience for our joint customers.

Marketing Partner of the Year: PT. Helios Informatika Nusantara
Honors the partner company who demonstrated outstanding collaboration and business outcomes in marketing Cloudflare solutions.

Services Partner of the Year: Megazone Cloud Corporation
Honors the top performing services solution provider.

Most Valuable Player of the Year by Country or Market:
Australia/New Zealand: Anchor Systems Pty Ltd
ASEAN: Softdebut Co., Ltd.
India: Valuepoint Techsol Private Limited
Korea: Megazone Cloud Corporation
Japan: Classmethod, Inc.
Greater China: Union Victory Technologies Development Limited
Singapore (iGaming): Kingsoft Cloud

Honors top partner achievers who not only provided stellar service to our joint customers, but also built new business value by tapping into the power of network, relationships, and ecosystems.

EMEA Partner Awards

Distributor of the Year: V-Valley
Honors the top performing Distributor that has best represented Cloudflare and enabled partners to secure sales and growth revenue streams.

Partner of the Year: Datacentrix PTY LTD
Honors the top performing partner that has demonstrated phenomenal sales achievement in 2022.

New Partners of the Year: KAEMI GmbH and Liquid C2
Honors the partners who, although new to the Cloudflare Partner Network in 2022, have already made substantial investments to grow our shared business achieving not only full certification compliance but also exceeding revenue targets.

Rising Star Award: David Sanchez (V-Valley)
Honors individual partner representatives who, although new to our collaboration, have already made a significant, positive contribution both to our partnership and to driving outcomes for our customers.

Partner Win of the Year: Rackspace Technology
Honors the partner who has brought in the largest, most strategic deal and deployed a comprehensive end-to-end security, performance and reliability solution to a customer.

Technical Excellence Award: Shawn Gradwell (Datacentrix PTY LTD), Yogesh Padharia (IBM Security Services Netherlands) and Sven Launspach (KAEMI GmbH)
Honors the partner company whose SEs demonstrated great knowledge and expertise in leading the customer’s Cloudflare presales and POC experience.

Partner SE Champion of the Year: Lee Kazaz (Nanosek)
Honors the individual partner SE who demonstrated depth of knowledge and expertise in Cloudflare solutions and went above and beyond in delivering the Cloudflare experience for our joint customers.

Certification Champion of the Year: Liquid C2
This award honors the Partner whose teams earned the highest total number of Cloudflare certifications during 2022.

Marketing Champion of the Year: V-Valley and Concat AG
Honors partner companies who have demonstrated outstanding collaboration and business outcomes in marketing Cloudflare solutions.

Most Valuable Player of the Year: Nanosek
Honors the top partner achiever who not only provided stellar service to our joint customers, but also built new business value by tapping into the power of network, relationships, and ecosystems.

MSP of the Year: Castelis
Honors the top performing managed services solutions provider.

GSI of the Year: Wipro Limited
Honors the top performing SI partner.

For more information on Cloudflare’s Channel and Alliances Partner Program, go here. Apply to become a Cloudflare Partner on our Partner Portal.

Announcing the Authorized Partner Service Delivery Track for Cloudflare One

2023-01-10 Matthew Harrell

Post Syndicated from Matthew Harrell original https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one-authorized-services-delivery-partner-track/

Announcing the Authorized Partner Service Delivery Track for Cloudflare One

This post is also available in 简体中文, 日本語, Deutsch, Français, Español.

In this Sunday’s Welcome to CIO Week blog, we talked about the value for CIOs in finding partners for long term digital transformation initiatives. As the adage goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.”

As Cloudflare has expanded into new customer segments and emerging market categories like SASE and Zero Trust, we too have increasingly focused on expanding our relationship with go-to-market partners (e.g. service providers, implementation / consulting firms, system integrators, and more). Because security and network transformation can feel inherently daunting, customers often need strategic advice and practical support when implementing Cloudflare One – our SASE platform of Zero Trust security and networking services. These partners play a pivotal role in easing customer adoption by helping them assess, implement, and manage our services.

This blog is primarily intended for prospective and current Cloudflare go-to-market channel partners and highlights how we have grown our partnership program over the past year and will continue to, going forward.

Cloudflare One: fastest growing portfolio among Cloudflare partners

Over the past year, adoption of Cloudflare One services has been the fastest area of growth among our customer base. Investments we have made to our channel ecosystem have helped us capitalize on increased customer demand for SASE platforms, including Zero Trust security and cloud-delivered networking.

In the last year alone, we’ve seen a 3x increase in Cloudflare One partner bookings. At the same time, the number of transacting partners has increased 70% YoY.

Partners repeatedly cite the simplicity of our platform to deploy and manage, our pace of innovation to give them confidence in our roadmap, and our global network to ensure scale, speed, and resilience as key differentiators that are fueling strong customer demand for Cloudflare One services.

Migrating from legacy, on-premise appliance to a cloud-delivered SASE architecture is a journey. For most customers, partners help break that journey into two categories, broadly defined: network layer transformation and Zero Trust security modernization.

Transforming the network layer

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud architecture are increasingly the norm. As enterprises embrace this approach, their networking infrastructure will likewise need to adapt to be able to easily connect to a variety of cloud environments.

Organizations that have traditionally relied on SD-WAN and MPLS based technologies will turn to cloud-based network-as-a-service (NaaS) offerings like Cloudflare’s Magic WAN (part of our Cloudflare One platform) to increase flexibility and reduce costs. This will also drive revenue opportunities for a new generation of cloud networking experts and advisors who have the skills to help organizations migrate from traditional on-premise hardware to a NaaS architecture.

For some organizations, transforming the network may in fact be a more attractive, initial entry point than beginning a Zero Trust security migration, as NaaS allows organizations to maintain their existing security tools while still providing a strategic path towards a full perimeter-less architecture with cloud-delivered protection in the future.

Implementing a Zero Trust architecture

For many organizations today, modernizing security for employees, devices, data, and offices with Zero Trust best practices is an equally critical priority. Trends towards hybrid and remote working have put additional pressure on IT and security teams to re-imagine how they secure access to corporate resources and move away from traditional ‘castle-and-moat’ architectures. Zero Trust promises enhanced visibility, more granular controls, and identity-aware protection across all traffic, regardless of origin or destination.

While the benefits of moving to a Zero Trust architecture are undeniable, implementing a full Zero Trust architecture is a journey that often requires the help of third parties. According to a recent report by iVanti, while 73% of companies plan to move to a cloud based architecture over the next 18 months, 46% of these companies IT security teams lack the confidence in their ability to apply a Zero Trust model on their own which is why 34% reportedly are relying on third party security providers to help them implement Zero Trust.¹ This is where partners can help.

Announcing the Authorized Services Delivery Partner Track for Cloudflare One

Cloudflare is hyper focused on building the most compelling and easy-to-use SASE platform on the market to help accelerate how organizations can transform their network and security architectures. The scale and resiliency of our global network – which spans across 275+ cities in 100+ countries and has 172+ Tbps of network capacity – ensures that we can deliver our protections reliably and with high speed, regardless of where customers are around the world.

Just as our physical network of data centers continues to expand, so too does our strategic network of channel partners, who we rely on to deliver professional and managed services that customers may require as part of their Cloudflare One deployment. Cloudflare is actively working with partners worldwide to build advisory, migration, and managed services with the goal of wrapping partner services expertise around Cloudflare One engagements to ensure 100% customer adoption and satisfaction.

To help partners develop their Cloudflare One services expertise and distinguish themselves in the marketplace, today we are excited to announce the limited availability of a new specialization track for Authorized Services Delivery Partners (ASDP). This track is designed to authorize partners that meet Cloudflare’s high standards for professional services delivery around Cloudflare One.

To become an Authorized Partner, partners will need to go through a rigorous technical validation process and will be assessed on the merits of the security, performance, and reliability of their services delivery capabilities. Partners that achieve the Authorized Service Partner designation will receive a variety of benefits, such as:

Engagement in Cloudflare One sourced opportunities requiring services
Access to named Cloudflare One partner service delivery managers who can assist partners in the building of their services practices
Access to special partner incentive funds designed to ensure that authorized partner services are actively used in Cloudflare One customer engagements.

To support this new partner track, we are also announcing advanced enablement and training paths that will be available in both instructor-led training and online formats via our partner portal, as well as advanced lab environments designed to help partners learn how to implement and support Cloudflare One deployments. Partners that successfully complete the ADSP requirements will also be given opportunities to shadow customer deployments to further their capabilities and expertise.

For current and prospective Cloudflare partners interested in this track, we are launching a new Cloudflare Authorized Service Delivery Partner Validation checklist, which includes details on the application process.

If you are an existing Cloudflare partner, you can also reach out to your named Channel Account Manager for additional information.

….
¹iVanti 2021 Zero Trust Progress Report

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program

2022-06-23 Matthew Harrell

Post Syndicated from Matthew Harrell original https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one-partner-program/

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program

This post is also available in 简体中文, 日本語, Deutsch, Français.

Today marks the launch of the Cloudflare One Partner Program, a program built around our Zero Trust, Network as a Service and Cloud Email Security offerings. The program helps channel partners deliver on the promise of Zero Trust while monetizing this important architecture in tangible ways – with a comprehensive set of solutions, enablement and incentives. We are delighted to have such broad support for the program from IT Service companies, Distributors, Value Added Resellers, Managed Service Providers and other solution providers.

This represents both a new go-to-market channel for Cloudflare, and a new way for companies of all sizes to adopt Zero Trust solutions that have previously been difficult to procure, implement and support.

The Cloudflare One Partner Program consists of the following elements:

New, fully cloud-native Cloudflare One product suites that help partners streamline and accelerate the design of holistic Zero Trust solutions that are easier to implement. The product suites include our Zero Trust products and Cloud Email Security products from our recent acquisition of Area 1 Security.
All program elements are fully operationalized through Cloudflare’s Distributors to make it easier to evaluate, quote and deliver Cloudflare One solutions in a consistent and predictable way.
The launch of new Partner Accreditations to enable partners to assess, implement and support Zero Trust solutions for their customers. This includes a robust set of training to help partners deliver the margin-rich services their customers need to realize the full value of their Zero Trust investments.
One of the most robust partner incentive structures in the industry, rewarding partners for the value they add throughout the entire customer lifecycle.

For more details visit our website here Cloudflare One Partner Program. For partners, we’ve added a dedicated Cloudflare One page in the Partner Portal.

“TD Synnex has been working hand-in-hand with Cloudflare on the launch of their new Cloudflare One Partner Program for Zero Trust. This program takes Zero Trust from a term that’s broadly and loosely used and cuts through the hype with the solution bundles, enablement resources, and incentives that help the channel deliver true business value“, said Tracy Holtz, Vice President, Security and Networking at TD Synnex. “TD Synnex being the world’s leading IT distributor and solutions aggregator is thrilled to be furthering our partnership with Cloudflare to build and enable this Program of partners as it is encompassing the solution that all organizations need today.“

Why is Cloudflare making this investment in the Cloudflare One Partner Program now?

The Cloudflare One Partner Program is launching to address the explosive demand to implement Zero Trust architectures that help organizations of all sizes safely and securely accelerate their digital transformations. In the face of ever-increasing cyber threats, Zero Trust moves from a concept to an imperative. Cloudflare is in a unique position to make this happen to one of the richest Zero Trust product suites in the industry including a Secure Web Gateway, ZTNA Access Management, CASB, Browser Isolation, DLP and Cloud Email Security. These products are tightly integrated and easy-to-use enabling a holistic, implementable solution.

Additionally, our Zero Trust suite has a comprehensive tech partner ecosystem that makes it easy for our customers to integrate our solutions in their existing tech stack. We integrate and closely partner with industry leaders across all major categories — identity, endpoint detection and response, mobile device management, and email service providers — to make Cloudflare One flexible and robust for our diverse customer base. Our strategic partners include Microsoft, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Mandiant, and others.

“Enterprises have come to terms with the notion of a disintegrating traditional perimeter. The distributed and dynamic perimeter of today requires a fundamentally new approach to security. In partnership with Cloudflare, our AI-powered cybersecurity platform offers modern organizations a robust Zero Trust security solution that spans devices, network, and mission-critical applications.” said Chuck Fontana, Senior Vice President, Business Development, SentinelOne

But it takes more than just the products to realize the promise of Zero Trust. It requires the skills and expertise of the channel, as trusted advisors to their customers, to optimize the solutions to drive the specific required business outcomes, or time-to-value for the customer’s investment.

“We’ve been humbled by how our existing partners have contributed to the explosive growth of our Zero Trust business, but increased customer demand is creating an opportunity for our partners to play a bigger role in how we go to market. More than ever before we are relying on our partners to help customers evaluate, implement and support Zero Trust solutions”, said Matthew Price, CEO of Cloudflare.

“By furthering our partnership with Cloudflare in the new Cloudflare One Partner Program, Rackspace Technology is able to deliver Cloudflare’s leading Zero Trust solutions paired with Rackspace Elastic Engineering and professional services at their massive scale and with continued implementation support,” said Gary Alterson, Vice President, Security Solutions at Rackspace Technology. “Since partnering with Cloudflare to develop Zero Trust solutions, we’ve already seen strong engagement with clients and prospects such as the likes of one of the world’s largest creative companies.“

“With the launch of this new Cloudflare One Partner Program including integrated zero trust focused solution bundles and partner enablement, we look forward to further expanding our go-to-market with Cloudflare and helping customers smoothly and quickly transform their network security by adopting a zero trust strategy for protecting their infrastructure, teams and applications,” stated Deborah Jones, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Alliances, IBM Security Services.

“Assurance Data’s charter is to deliver integrated security solutions for next-generation cyber defense. We’re thrilled to work with Cloudflare, adding their innovative, 100% cloud-native Zero Trust solutions to our technology portfolio and appreciate the significant investment they are making in the partner channel, with deep partner enablement and service delivery support along with rich incentives. The new Cloudflare One Partner Program is truly a triple win: a win for us, for our Cloudflare partnership and for our customers,” stated Randy Stephens, COO, Assurance Data.

“Zero Trust is no-brainer, but many people still believe it’s too complex,” stated Scott McCrady, CEO, SolCyber. “Cloudflare has made it easy with the new Cloudflare One Partner Program. We love it because it helps our customers get integrated Zero Trust solutions in place fast, with all the enablement and incentives you would expect from a first-rate partner program.”

How is the Cloudflare One Partner program different from Cloudflare’s general Partner Program?

This new program builds on top of the benefits of the existing partner program. So all the current benefits provided to partners are available, but there are a few valuable additions for Cloudflare One partners: Product suites are listed with Distribution partners and available for VARs and other partners to quote and fulfill; We’ve added Accreditations and new training packages, so that partners have rich resources and training on which to build and enhance their own service practices; Incentives for partners are enhanced with well-structured discounts off the list prices available to partners at our Distribution partners including extra incentives that follow a “reward for value” model.

“As a member of AVANT’s Security Council, Cloudflare has been a close innovation partner of AVANT’s as we enable our network of Trusted Advisors to help their customers adopt the very latest in cloud technologies,” stated Shane McNamara, EVP, Engineering and Operations, AVANT Communications. “With this new Cloudflare One Partner Program for Zero Trust, Cloudflare has launched a first-of-kind set of integrated product suites and partner services packages that will give our Trusted Advisors a compelling set of solutions to take to market.“

“Cloudflare’s product suite has an important role to play in advanced threat detection and in Wipro’s Zero Trust offers to clients,” said Tony Buffomante, SVP, Global CRS Leader of Wipro. “The Cloudflare One Partner Program has provided a quick ramp to build our practice. We’re already seeing significant market use cases from our partnership, with Wipro CyberSecurists providing application security, implementation services and ongoing managed services from Wipro’s 16 global cyber defense centers.”

“Cloudflare has made Zero Trust adoption easy, with these integrated product bundles and partner services speeding customers’ journeys to comprehensive, Zero Trust-based security for teams, infrastructure and applications. We’re excited to be one of Cloudflare’s initial launch partners for these innovative solutions,” stated Dave Trader, Field CISO, Presidio.

“We are a services provider delivering cybersecurity and IT transformation solutions to private equity and mid-market organizations. The Cloudflare One Partner Program fits with our integrated services and support model, and we’re already seeing strong customer interest in the Cloudflare One product suites. We’re excited to be one of Cloudflare’s initial partners for this strategic new channel program,” stated Chris Hueneke, Chief Information Security Officer, RKON.

“We’re thrilled to announce that we officially provide managed services to support Cloudflare One solutions to help customers mitigate cyber security threats with a holistic Zero Trust approach to security,” according to Joey Campione, Managing Director, Opticca Security.

“Cloudflare is making it easy for us to design and deliver a Zero Trust solution, especially for our mid-market customers where the bundles ensure a complete, integrated solution,” said Katie Hanahan, vCISO and Vice President, Cybersecurity Strategy at ITsavvy, a leading IT solution provider. “And we love the investment in tools and training to help us build out our own professional services offerings to help drive the best possible outcomes for our clients.“

A program built around comprehensive Zero Trust product suites

Cloudflare One offers comprehensive Zero Trust solutions that raise visibility, eliminate complexity, and reduce risks as remote and office users connect to applications and the Internet. In a single-pass architecture, traffic is verified, filtered, inspected, and isolated from threats. There is no performance trade-off: users connect through data centers nearby in 270+ cities in over 100 countries.

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program Cloudflare Access augments or replaces corporate VPN clients by securing SaaS and internal applications. Access works with your identity providers and endpoint protection platforms to enforce default-deny, Zero Trust rules limiting access to corporate applications, private IP spaces, and hostnames.

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program Cloudflare Gateway is our threat and data protection solution. It keeps data safe from malware, ransomware, phishing, command and control, Shadow IT, and other Internet risks over all ports and protocols.

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program Cloudflare Area 1 Email Security crawls the Internet to stop phishing, Business Email Compromise (BEC), and email supply chain attacks at the earliest stage of the attack cycle, and enhances built-in security from cloud email providers.

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program Cloudflare Browser Isolation makes web browsing safer and faster, running in the cloud away from your network and endpoints, insulating devices from attacks.

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program Cloudflare CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) gives customers comprehensive visibility and control over SaaS apps to easily prevent data leaks, block insider threats, and avoid compliance violations.

Announcing the Cloudflare One Partner Program Cloudflare Data Loss Prevention enables customers to detect and prevent data exfiltration or data destruction. Analyze network traffic and internal “endpoint” devices to identify leakage or loss of confidential information, and stay compliant with industry and data privacy regulations.

For more information on the program and Zero Trust product suites go here.

What’s Next?

Today’s launch of the Cloudflare One Partner Program represents just one step in a multi-step journey to invest in our partners and help customers implement and support Zero Trust solutions. Over the coming months we will be expanding the program internationally and continuing to add training resources around Cloudflare Zero Trust accreditations. We are also hosting a series of partner webinars on this new program. Please check the Partner Portal for details and future partner events.

Congratulations Cloudflare 2021 Partner Award Winners

2022-03-17 Matthew Harrell

Post Syndicated from Matthew Harrell original https://blog.cloudflare.com/congratulations-cloudflare-2021-partner-award-winners/

Congratulations Cloudflare 2021 Partner Award Winners

We’re thrilled to announce the winners of our annual Channel and Alliance Partner Awards for 2021. Throughout a year of continued global disruptions, Cloudflare’s partners kept innovating, expanding their solutions and services capabilities, and accelerated their growth with us and our platform. It is important that we recognize and award the partners of ours who stood out in staying laser-focused on delivering outstanding business outcomes for customers.

With the ongoing shift in 2021 to remote, flexible work forces and the evolving cyber threat landscape, more than ever organizations across every industry and the public sector were looking to Cloudflare, and to work hand in hand with partners who can deliver a modern, Zero Trust approach to security. Seeing this consistent need, we are continuing to build and support new levels of partner-led growth in the year ahead such as with a new partner services program for SASE and Zero Trust which we launched at the start of 2022.

Please join us in congratulating the impressive achievements of our partner award winners over this past year! They enable the further delivery of Internet security, performance, and reliability for organizations of all sizes and types — and we are thrilled to be recognizing their impact.