Security firm FireEye Inc. continues its steady progress in the channel this week with the unveiling of its Fuel Partner Program to tighten the engagement between the vendor and its growing cadre of resellers.

The Milpitas, Calif., company hopes the revamp of its three-tiered partner program will help partners reselling FireEye’s Web, e-mail and file security solution “to become the trusted security advisor to organizations while accelerating their opportunities in the threat protection market.”

“Our open platform is the centerpiece for complete threat protection along with our ecosystem of innovative partners,” said FireEye chairman and CEO Dave DeWalt. “FireEye has partners that cut across every vertical and region and provide a deep fabric of services and support.

“The Fuel Partner Program enables partners to broaden their market services offerings and protect their customers’ critical data, intellectual property, and networks against advanced malware, zero-day and targeted APT attacks,” DeWalt added.

The FireEye Fuel Partner Program will give VARs and solution providers access to tools and resources, targeted sales incentives, and technical sales and marketing programs. FireEye officials say the goal with Fuel is to provide partners growth opportunities at every stage of the sales cycle, from initial engagement through deployment and delivery.

Highlights of the program include enhanced deal registration, a marketing development funds (MDF) program and a host of education opportunities.

“This new Partner Program comes on the back of a sustained period of new business generation, and our reseller partners will enjoy more benefits and opportunities because of it,” said Barrie Desmond, director of marketing and global accounts at Paris-based Exclusive Networks Group. “The FireEye threat protection platform is a genuinely disruptive, market-making technology, and its introduction has been met with extraordinary demand from the outset across our territories.”

FireEye on a Channel Roll

The Fuel debut comes less than a year after FireEye made its first significant channel foray with the launch of a Certified Service Provider Program to support for MSPs that serve customers adopting a managed services or cloud model.

Founded in 2004, FireEye has steadily captured attention with solutions designed to target advanced persistent threats (APTs), zero-day attacks and other forms of evasive malware. These capabilities have played well in light of Big Data trends and an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape. FireEye’s technologies compete with conventional solutions and established security vendors such as Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc. and Trend Micro Inc.

The company remains relatively small with around 450 resellers and distributors worldwide selling and implementing the FireEye threat protection platform and 40 alliance partners and solution providers using the FireEye platform to deliver integrated solutions and managed services.

With more than 80 percent of FireEye sales going through the channel in the past year, the vendor continues to take pains to establish itself as a viable contender in the security space — most recently bringing on board former McAfee head DeWalt as CEO.

The firm has also raised its profile by embarking on a strategic threat monitoring partnership with RSA Inc., the security division of EMC Corp., leveraging analytics and advanced threats in a service designed to challenge competitors by providing greater insights and speedier remediation.