CRN: Recently, Cisco said it intends to focus more of its efforts on the SMB space. Does this worry you given their previous acquisition of Linksys?
PL: We have always worried about that since 2001, when they fired the first salvo saying that SMB will be their major focus and the created an SMB Czar and a channel program. This time around they said they are going to introduce some new products down the line and have a new channel partner program. But still they're true to their form. The channel partner has to have certified Cisco people and commit to $100,000 a year. We suspect that their definition of SMB is still much higher end than our definition of SMB. Our definition of SMB is 250 people and below.. We basically do not require VARs to make any minimal commitment and we don't need to certify them because our products are designed to make it simple to install.
CRN: How do you compete with Cisco's ever-expanding portfolio of products?
PL: We already have an existing portfolio of products that cut across wireless LANs, switches for both 100 megabit and Gbyte, firewalls and routers. And we also work with a lot of ancillary partners to generate a bigger portfolio for them. For example, we work with voice-over-IP vendors like Shortell. We work with FireTide to provide wireless mesh networks. We also work with the antivirus and antispam partners to do policy enforcement. We have a whole bunch of partners that we work with to provide a complete solution for the VARs that they can up sell their customers.
CRN: Who do you see the most amount of competition from in the SMB space?
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