Barracuda Networks, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, today announced multiple strategic channel roles to strengthen the partner experience and drive success within the channel ecosystem. These investments include new channel roles, additional partner advancement resources, and an expanded global footprint.
As part of this, Barracuda recently hired Maria Martinez as VP of Channels, Americas, and promoted Karen Ward to VP, MSP Sales, Americas. Martinez brings more than 20 years of channel experience, including how to accelerate channel sales growth and improve program development. Ward has been with Barracuda’s MSP business unit for more than six years, focusing her and the team’s efforts on partner success and development.
Additionally, Barracuda is adding new channel roles to expand its partner experience, enablement, and channel ecosystem teams. These efforts support Barracuda’s increased focus on providing more technical education and training for channel partners. In addition, Barracuda is investing in Extended Detection and Response (XDR) technology to help channel partners strengthen their security practices.
Barracuda is also expanding its global footprint with a regional channel ecosystem and sales leaders in the Asia Pacific region. Earlier this month, Andy Lau joined Barracuda as Director, of Partner Ecosystems and Alliance for Asia Pacific & Japan, and Makoto Suzuki as Regional Sales Director for Japan. In March, Paul Crighton joined Barracuda as Regional Sales Director for Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Collectively, the new leaders in the region bring more than 50 years of cybersecurity, technology, and channel experience to their roles.
“We’re excited to share the increasing investment in our partner experience and all of the ways we’re driving partner success and expanding our channel ecosystem,” said Jason Beal, VP, of Worldwide Partner Ecosystems at Barracuda. “With these new hires and an additional focus on technical enablement, we are giving our partners the tools they need to identify and win more prospect and customer opportunities. The closer alignment between our reseller and MSP teams also benefits our partners. ”
Barracuda is also adding resources and new tools to strengthen relationships with our alliance partners, particularly hyper scalers like AWS and Microsoft Azure. For example, in November, Barracuda announced that Barracuda Email Protection now integrates with Amazon Security Lake, helping customers streamline access to email security data. A wide range of Barracuda network, application, and email protection solutions are available on the AWS and Azure marketplaces.
“Barracuda combines three key ingredients to support the growth plans of high-performing MSP partners,” said Don Wisdom, president of Datalink Networks. “The first two are a well-known and growing security portfolio, along with a business growth vision and strong partner programs. The third is the Barracuda team itself. From senior management to channel marketing to engineering and account managers, all Barracuda employees have a partner-centric mindset. Our growth as a cybersecurity integrator and MSP is intrinsically linked to Barracuda’s strong commitment and belief in us.”
Barracuda’s active and engaged Partner Advisory Board met earlier this year to share insights and best practices. The next CudaCoSell Day will be on May 4th and Barracuda Discover23 Partner Summits will be held in Europe in May and in the US in June. Barracuda partners contact their sales representatives for more details.
