Blue Coat introduces professional services partner program

The BTPSP Program supplements the BlueTouch Support Partner Program by providing additional tools, certification and training to assist partners in developing strategic, consultative relationships with their customers.

The BTPSP Program is a two-level program that allows certified channel partners to provide a variety of professional services, including network design; installation and configuration of Blue Coat products; testing and migration from staging to production-ready environments; migration and upgrades; and management and monitoring. Additionally, certified partners can participate as subcontractors to Blue Coat in professional services engagements that it manages. The BTPSP Program is part of the Blue Coat Channel Advantage Program and is available to all Premium and Elite partners.

"As a certified BlueTouch Professional Services Partner, we have the technical expertise and access to Blue Coat's knowledge to help our customers maximize the return on investment in their Application Delivery Networking infrastructure," said Andrew Lev, group senior vice president marketing, alliances and channels at Integralis. "With this program, we are complementing our trusted advisor services with a valuable consultative approach that allows us to share our expertise and ensure our customers' networks are optimized to best serve their business requirements."

The BTPSP Program provides two levels of partner certifications: BlueTouch Professional Services Partner and Master BlueTouch Professional Services Partner. Additionally, the program offers individual certifications in the key Application Delivery Networking specializations of visibility, acceleration and security. Certified BlueTouch Professional Services Consultants must be certified in the acceleration specialization and at least one other. Certified BlueTouch Professional Services ADN Architects must be certified in all three specializations and have proven lab experience with Blue Coat products.

"With the new Professional Services Partner designation, Blue Coat has created an offering that enables partners to increase service attach rates and margins while building more strategic relationships with their customers," said Nidal Taha, Regional Director for ME and Turkey, Blue Coat Systems. "Empowering our partners to sell and support Blue Coat deployments is the cornerstone of the Channel Advantage Program. By aligning our partner skills with customer requirements everyone wins."

The Blue Coat Channel Advantage Program combines service offerings like the BTPSP Program with rewards, evaluation and network assessment programs, advanced training, lead generation campaigns, virtual marketing services, market development funds and other benefits to enable successful partner selling. By providing the right mix of tools throughout the entire sales cycle, the Blue Coat Channel Advantage Program helps its partners deliver better value to their customers.