By now, everyone has heard of Dell's intent to purchase security software and appliance vendor SonicWALL. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the public company recently went private in 2010 in a deal that was reportedly worth $717 million. Almost more important than how much Dell paid for SonicWALL is the the impact this deal will have on to the channel.
Yes, SonicWALL comes with 950 employees, yes it has a wealth of intellectual property in the form of patents (both existing and pending), yes it has a longstanding relationship with Dell (more about that later), but what it has that could be of significant value to Dell is over 15,000 MSPs, resellers, distributors, and partners. But the lingering question on the mind's of many MSPs today is what Dell intends to do with SonicWALL, it's technology, and most importantly all those 15,000 plus resellers.
The last time Dell did a deal involving a MSP partner program was back in 2007 when it acquired remote monitoring and management software company SilverBack. The fall out from that acquisition was felt throughout the MSP community as many MSPs voiced concern over Dell's direct managed services ambitions. Although SilverBack only had a few hundred MSPs at the time of the deal, the buzz in the MSP channel was quite noticeable. MSPs silently, and publicly, talked about how Dell's managed services offerings were being offered directly to end-users, sometimes circumventing MSPs who had existing relationships with those customers. If SilverBack and its several hundred MSPs caused so much concern, I'm wondering whether SonicWALL and its 15,000 will cause an even greater commotion.
The deal makes strategic sense in at least one way, since both SilverBack and SonicWALL worked together years ago on managed services outreach programs. The purchase also brings Dell even closer to the SMB business market, an area in which SonicWALL has traditionally played very well.
Of course, this concern could be entirely speculative and unwarranted. Dell might have learned a lesson since 2007 and it could have an much different strategy in store for its SonicWALL purchase. We will have to wait and see. In the meantime, I think a lot of MSPs will also be taking a wait and see attitude.
