Fortinet is gunning for rival Nokia in the high-end firewall space and has launched an aggressive campaign to grab market share.

The security appliance vendor, which kicks off its ‘It’s a Nok-Out’ campaign next week, is looking to double the size of its UK channel. It has doubled its channel-facing team to help it to achieve its goals.

“We have been very successful in the Unified Threat Management space, but we are selling too many low-end devices. We are really looking to sell more in the mid-range,” said Jonathan Mepsted, regional director UK, Ireland and South Africa at Fortinet.

“At the moment we have about 100 UK partners, and we want to double our partner base over the next 12 months,” he said.

Mepsted added that Nokia and its partnership with Check Point has had some very good results in the high-end firewall space. He said this success is the reason why the area has become Fortinet’s main target.

“We have been talking to a number of partners and are offering generous cash incentives,” he said. He added that the Nok-Out campaign will be run through Fortinet’s distribution partners Fresh Egg and NOXS.

The vendor is offering £500 for each Fortigate 500A appliance sold, £800 for each 800A appliance and £1,000 for each 1000A appliance sold.

Gary Duke, sales director at Fortinet VAR LAN2LAN, said: “Larger firms understand the benefits of a multi-layered approach, and Fortinet is asking partners to go out with a clear message. I think Fortinet is already taking market share from Nokia. Its products are very scaleable and have a good return on investment, which is important.”

But Dan Reis, product marketing manager at Nokia Security & Mobile Connectivity, was unconcerned. “Competition drives Nokia and others to deliver the best product to market. It provides companies with a choice of what to implement and the channel with a variety of options to help companies through that decision-making process,” he said.

sara_yirrell@vnu.co.uk