An IT security vendor with millions of customers that most solution providers in North America probably never heard of today launched its first channel program for the region.

Quick Heal Technologies, a Chelmsford, Mass.-based provider of the SEQRITE portfolio of IT security offerings that has already generated millions of dollars in annual revenue around the globe, plans to expand its reach in North America by recruiting channel partners to sell security software to small and midsize enterprises (SME) consisting of anywhere from five to 5,000 seats.

Quick Heal claims that what differentiates it most is its history of providing enterprise-class IT security offerings for the SME market, versus selling a set of IT security offerings that have been artificially constrained in order to force customers to upgrade to a more expensive set of enterprise class products, said Farokh Karani, director of sales and channels for North America. In contrast, Quick Heal provides bundles of IT security offerings across a number of price points while still protecting channel partner profit margins, he said.

“Most of our competitors offer incomplete solutions that SME customers outgrow,” Karani said. “They’re trying to push customers to upgrade to more expensive enterprise products and services.”

Designed to be managed via a cloud-enabled console, the Quick Heal IT security offerings span Apple, Windows and Android endpoints alongside servers, networks and gateways.

Quick Heal plans to woo channel partners by offering margins that are as high as 50 percent on its IT security offerings, Karani said. In addition, as it does in other regions of the globe, Quick Heal is 100 percent committed to selling through the channel only.

The Quick Heal channel program also includes a range of rebates, incentives, sales performance incentive funds, deal-registration and deal-protection programs across two tiers of gold and silver partners. The company also plans to announce a channel loyalty program later this quarter.

Quick Heal claims to have 10 million customers in 100 countries that 1,300 employees and 15,000 channel partners service, and the company already has a lot of experience in the channel, Karani said.

As end customers themselves become more global, the need to be able to address IT security issues anywhere in the world has become a significant issue for both IT security vendors and their partners. Quick Heal is making the case for doing business, not only with an IT security vendor that now has a global reach, but also one that has designed its offerings from the ground up to meet the needs of the SME market, where the channel continues to remain the strongest influencer of IT purchasing decisions.

Michael Vizard has been covering IT issues in the enterprise for 25 years as an editor and columnist for publications such as InfoWorld, eWEEK, Baseline, CRN, ComputerWorld and Digital Review.