Kaspersky Lab is looking to expand its partner base following the launch of its first product for virtualized environments.

Kaspersky Security for Virtualization (KSV) works with VMware’s vShield Endpoint security to offer agentless security on virtual servers. It allows partners to solve a very real – if under-recognized – challenge with security in virtual environments, said Kevin Krempulec, vice president of sales for Canada at Kaspersky. Although 85 per cent of businesses have virtualized their servers to some extent, attach rates of security products haven’t gone the same way.

“There’s that perception that virtual machines don’t need the same kind of protection, but that’s a fallacy,” Krempulec said. “The challenge is that it’s been hard to put security on those virtual machines because of performance issues, and that’s why we’ve spend a great deal of time and effort custom-designing it to work in this environment.”

By running the security engine in one virtual machine which then manages its fellow virtual machines, KSV aims to avoid the performance hit virtual machines take when using a traditional security solution. Taking the agentless approach also sets KSV up to work in virtual desktop environments as well as securing virtual servers. Security on VDI could represent a major opportunity for channel partners as it gains further acceptance in the marketplace, Krempulec said.

While Kaspersky partners will have to learn the details of the new product, as well as some details on how vShield works, once KSV is installed in a customer, management should be relatively familiar, with partners having access to KSV-secured virtual machines in the same Kaspersky Security Center 9 console they already use for PCs, physical servers and mobile devices.

Krempulec said Kaspesky will bring KSV to market through its own channel partners, and will also look to build relationships with longtime VMware partners who may be new to Kaspersky for the product. “It really does open up a new channel for us in VMware partners,” he said.

For the former group, Krempulec said there’s the need for “quite a big of training” and that Kaspersky has a partner site dedicated to the product, explaining the product, providing training, and presenting customer-facing materials like whitepapers on the need for security in virtualized environments.

For the latter group, Krempulec said Kaspersky will use its connections to VMware, working with the company’s partner managers, user groups and doing combined events with the virtualization vendor to deliver a combined message between the two.

While the VMware-centric offering is its first foray into the virtualization market, Krempulec said Kaspersky has its eyes on other platforms as well.

“We’re always looking at where this is expanding in the future,” he said.