Stonesoft simplifies route to market for resellers with Tech-Start accreditation

Chertsey, UK – October 26 2009 – Stonesoft, an innovative provider of integrated network security and business continuity solutions, today announced the launch of Tech-Start, a free, basic accreditation scheme for resellers that want to start selling Stonesoft products without an initial upfront investment in technology and training.

Tech-Start is designed to offer resellers a risk-free stepping stone to full Stonesoft accreditation. At the core is a free induction session, run monthly, that condenses basic technical and business development training into a single day. Armed with this knowledge, resellers can begin securing the sales from customers that would justify investing the money and time for full accreditation. Attending resellers will receive a certificate of recognition to highlight to customers that they have started the process towards full accreditation.

“Accreditation is a very important step for resellers who want to successfully sell into a tough market, such as the security space. But the initial upfront investment in training and technology means that it’s also a stumbling block for resellers that want to test the water with a new product. We’ve designed Tech-Start to enable resellers to take on Stonesoft products with the minimum investment and only commit fully when they have the forecast revenue to do so,” says Ash Patel, country manager UK & Ireland at Stonesoft.

Ash concludes, “In this economy, we’ve seen that customers are very willing to look outside of the dominant vendors for a solution that can deliver a better price to performance ratio. However, we recognise that, as a challenger vendor, we need to make it easier for resellers to bring our products into their portfolios and we believe that Tech-Start will help them do that.”

About Stonesoft

Stonesoft Corporation (OMX: SFT1V) is an innovative provider of integrated network security solutions to secure the information flow of distributed organisations. Stonesoft customers include enterprises with growing business needs requiring advanced network security and always-on business connectivity.

StoneGate™ secure connectivity solution unifies firewall, VPN, IPS and SSL VPN blending network security, end-to-end availability and award-winning load balancing into a unified and centrally managed system. The key benefits of StoneGate secure connectivity solution include low TCO, excellent price-performance ratio and high ROI. The virtual StoneGate solution protects the network and ensures business continuity in both virtual and physical network environments.

StoneGate Management Centre provides unified management for StoneGate Firewall with VPN, IPS and SSL VPN. StoneGate Firewall and IPS work together to provide intelligent defence all over the enterprise network while StoneGate SSL VPN provides enhanced security for mobile and remote use.

Founded in 1990, Stonesoft Corporation is a global company with corporate headquarters in Helsinki, Finland and Americas headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.stonesoft.com.