BakBone launches partnership program

BakBone Software has unveiled a partner program to target government integrators and to boost federal sales of its NetVault backup and recovery software.

The company’s Federal Channel Advantage program provides integrators with joint sales opportunities and marketing resources, including lead referrals and direct mail campaigns.

It's the latest in an ongoing effort at BakBone. In 2004, the company launched a commercial channel program for the NetVault products, and included state and local government resellers within that program. The new effort brings federal government contractors into the fold.

BakBone already works with Promark Technology, and uses Promark's General Services Administration schedule to sell through. Federal resellers providing products through that schedule include GTSI, FedTek, and GMRI, according to BakBone.

In its new channel effort, BakBone aims to “create more focus in the federal space,” said Scott Petersen, vice president at BakBone. The San Diego-based company operates a federal sales office in northern Virginia. BakBone now aims to land on other federal contract vehicles in addition to the GSA schedule.

“GSA is just one contract vehicle the government uses,” Petersen said. “We can leverage other contract vehicles.”

As it seeks additional federal partners, BakBone plans to tap its partnerships with Network Appliance (NetApp) and Sun Microsystems. BakBone works with NetApp and Sun resellers in the commercial sector and the company will seek to expand those relationships into the federal sector, Petersen said.

Petersen said he expects the public sector to contribute 10 percent of the company’s revenue in 12 to 18 months.

BakBone’s NetVault software runs in Linux, Unix, and Windows environments. In February, the company announced support for Novell’s Open Enterprise Server platform, which combines NetWare and SUSE Linux.