ChannelTech Middle East and Africa (CTMEA) talks to Andy Zollo, vice president, SonicWALL EMEA on the vendor’s plans to pioneer new initiatives in the MEA region. A lot has been said about 2011, what is SonicWALL’s main focus for the MEA channel this year? SonicWALL views the Middle East and Africa region as the fastest growing geography that the company covers and that's why we have put in and will continue to invest in the channel in this emerging market. The investments we have been making relate to technical resource and support, as well as marketing and brand awareness channel initiatives. For instance, we're just starting a technical resource in Saudi which will be established soon and provide on the ground in-country support. We're also looking for a direct touch because, as we expand into the enterprise market and we need more of that customer touch ourselves so that the channel should deliver on the opportunity. It's all about providing comprehensive support to our channel ecosystem and getting the balance. Overall, the partner landscape needs to be balanced with distributors to improve our market reach and base. They're two types of distributors we engage with and these are typically those who adopt the SMB range of products and enterprise focused partners that engage with top tier system integrators, VARs, and solution providers. We have a clear global two tier channel policy and everything goes through the channel. Even as we deploy direct touch, the channel can be reassured that everything goes through distribution and all those direct touch initiations are passed on to channel partners to fulfill the deals.