In addition to their first formal strategic partnership, Meta Networks is also on the verge of being able to announce their first channel program, and their first channel partners.
Etay Bogner, Meta Networks’ CEO and Founder
Meta Networks emerged from stealth at the beginning of April, launching their Meta NaaS [Network-as-a-Service] secure cloud-native networking platform, with a software-defined perimeter that provides a flexible, next-generation improvement on traditional VPNs. Now they are building out their ecosystem that the software-designed capability facilitates. They have announced their first integration with Symantec, and have joined the Symantec Technology Integration Partner Program [TIPP)]. Other integrations are likely to be forthcoming, as well as integrations with other vendors.
“This initial integration is to the Symantec Secure Gateway, which is powered by Bluecoat,” said Etay Bogner, Meta Networks’ CEO and Founder. “It connects all traffic a user tries to access and forwards it to the Bluecoat solution in the cloud for inspection. If a policy specifies that a user can’t access a questionable website, it will block it.”
This is Meta Networks’ first formal strategic integration, and the expectation is that other integrations with Symantec security solutions will follow.
“It’s part of the TIPP that once a vendor is certified, they can work on new integrations with other products,” said Amy Ariel, Meta Networks’ CMO. “Now that this first one is certified, the intent is to continue on from there.”
Meta Networks’ software-defined architecture was designed for easy integration with third-party vendors like this one. It is based on identity-based policy routing and packet-level identity verification, in which each user has a unique, fixed identity and has no access to anything until granted in a zero-trust model. They are targeting the 250-1000 seat market to start on the principle that this market segment is more receptive to rethinking their traditional networking infrastructure than larger enterprises.
“It’s very integral to our world view that we have these types of partnerships,” Ariel said. “Our platform was specifically architected to integrate with a variety of third party integrations, so emphasizing these relationships is a really central message for us. It’s really important to get that word out. That’s why we are formally announcing this, even though we have been working with Symantec throughout the time when we came to market.”
Meta Networks has also been partnered with Cyren as they geared up to launch the product. A third strategic partner has been signed, but is not yet at the stage where the partnership can be disclosed publicly.
“We are also looking at two or three additional strategic partners, whose solutions we can complement, among the NOC solution and cloud solution vendors,” Bogner added.
At this stage, the Symantec partnership is just a technology integration, not a go-to-market one.
“We are starting with a technology integration, then as we develop joint customers, we will consider whether it makes sense to move to the next phase with a go-to-market integration,” Bogner said.
Ariel said that Symantec is making changes to TIPP which will have the effect of making this partnership, as well as those with the over 100 other vendors in the program, more effective.
“Symantec is launching a new version of TIPP at Black Hat, which has a more robust and uniform interface for their products to integrate with partners,” she stated.
Meta Networks has upcoming partnering news of their own. The company sold direct while in stealth, but was putting plans in place then that would transition to a channel model, which would include both resellers and MSSPs.
“We are signing our first channel partners now, and a channel program is on its way,” Ariel said.
