Sebastian Moore is a man on a hunt. And he is seeking partners who are committed to the secure enterprise market and have an overall security focus. He wants these partners to sell RSA's Sign-On Manager, a two-factor authentication solution. He tells Channels India about the company's offering for solution providers, which will help them upscale themselves as niche security providers. Partners can even sell SecureCare service contracts, the vendor's support packs, to provide a broader solution than the software alone.

Is it true that RSA is replacing its product SecurID, with Sign-On Manager?
RSA's SecureID is not being revised or replaced by Sign-On Manager. It will continue in the marketplace as our solution for strong two-factor authentication using hardware or software tokens.

The Sign-On Manager is a major release for a product known previously as RSA Passage. It is designed to allow organizations to reduce helpdesk costs from password resets, improve enterprise security and increase end-user productivity, while extending the value of their current security investment.

What is the potential of this product?
Sign-On Manager has several capabilities. It grants access to any number of Windows client/server, web or mainframe applications without the user having to re-authenticate to each new application. It offers customers a range of authentication choices including passwords, SecurID authenticators, a smart card, an USB authenticator, Keon digital certificates (or any X.509 certificate) or a fingerprint-based biometric.

The Sign-On Manager delivers strong RoI through central management and the ability to scale to tens of thousands of users. The solution is designed to offer backup and recovery of credentials from a centralized server and provides automated password change capabilities so application passwords can be strengthened without impacting end user productivity.

What will be the profile of partners who will deploy this solution?
Partners for the Sign-On Manager will be those that demonstrate a commitment to the secure enterprise market as well as having an overall security focus. This market requires partners that have the ability to sell larger enterprise software solutions that usually require a commitment to a longer sales cycle.

These types of opportunities require a partner to have knowledge and skills in security and systems integration as well as hold a financial balance sheet strength which larger enterprise customers require when making important IT investments.

Since most of your products are based on concept selling, how do you empower your partners to deal with customer queries?
RSA provides its partners with the tools necessary for them to sell RSA solutions successfully. This can take the form of sales training, product and technical updates. RSA holds regular partner forums outlining its strategic plans and product roadmaps so that its partners can provide customers with the best information for them to make important investment decisions.

Additionally, RSA partners have access to a wide range of resources including our partner information website along with access to sales and technical resources in RSA's distributor network. 

What kind of a service infrastructure do you have in place?
RSA provides 24x7 support cover through its SecureCare program worldwide with software updates at no additional cost. Partners can sell SecureCare service contracts and can provide a broader solution than the software alone.

Who are your key competitors in India? How do you plan to position your company and your products in the market?
We are a trusted name in IT security globally and in India. Our solution portfolio includes identity and access management (I&AM), secure mobile and remote access, secure enterprise access and secure transactions. RSA is successful due to its brand awareness, reputation for security, quality of products, superior customer experience, extensive support network, R&D expenditure, relationships with over 1,000 technology partners.

We hold a key position with a number of industry bodies including the Liberty Alliance and OASIS and has the strength of its channel partner network and sound company background. These key aspects differentiate RSA in the market and provide the customer with less risk when investing in our solutions.

Though Indian customers are showing an interest in these security products, they are skeptical about investing in the access management solutions. How will you and your partners overcome this mental block?
There are many business benefits to customers when they implement an RSA solution. These benefits are widespread and as Indian customers continue deploying firewalls, VPNs, and online businesses, RSA will continue to provide a RoI to its customers.

The Indian market has significant potential beyond the current security investment levels and this is exciting for us and our channel. India is experiencing and will continue to experience increased attacks from hackers, cyber terrorists and Phishers. As this trend continues RSA, our partners will be well positioned to support customers in deploying the best-of-breed security solutions which inspire customer confidence in transacting business remotely and/or over the internet.

Finally, some Indian customers have already started deploying Internet as platform to conduct business and this trend will only accelerate and thereby promoting investments in I&AM solutions and creating demand for RSA products.

VINITA BHATIA

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