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WatchGuard Given Channel Chief Honors

Second Year in a Row, WatchGuard's Mark Romano Named a 2009 Channel Chief by Everything Channel's CRN

SEATTLE – March 2, 2009. WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in extensible network security and connectivity solutions, today announced that Mark Romano, Director of Global Field and Channel Marketing, was named a 2009 Channel Chief by Everything Channel's CRN. Channel Chiefs are recognized as influential executives who consistently develop, promote and execute successful channel partner programs and strategies. This marks the second consecutive Channel Chief award for Romano, reflecting his consistent ability to help channel partners grow their business.

"Unlike some vendors who just play a numbers game to see how many resellers they can sign, WatchGuard takes a more measured and long term approach," said Mark Romano, Director of Global Field and Channel Marketing at WatchGuard Technologies. "As evidenced by this honor, WatchGuard continues to excel in giving its channel partners superior programs and innovative offerings that not only keep our partners happy and profitable, but also give their customers a better network security experience."

Over the last 12 months, WatchGuard unveiled several new innovative programs, including:

• WatchGuard Finance – Helps channel partners and customers access and leverage easy to use financing options for today's difficult economy. Partners are able to offer not just excellent network security solutions but creative methods for their customers to afford them.
• Partner Deal Registration – Reduces channel conflict while providing greater opportunities by combining technical solutions with resources from both the reseller and WatchGuard.
• Volume Incentive Rebates – Expanding on an already profitable partner program, WatchGuard instituted a VIR program that offers financial incentives for targeted market growth.
• Cooperative Event Opportunities – Provides numerous regional event activities to drive new sales opportunities directly to participating VARs.
• Lead Generation Program – Offers a greater volume of better qualified leads, which significantly shortens the sales cycle at the reseller level.

These programs resulted in forging new channel partnerships, higher year-over-year channel satisfaction scores, and substantial gains in growing markets around the world.

WatchGuard also offers channel partners and their customers with WatchGuard LiveSecurity Service. LiveSecurity is a comprehensive array of services, including: technical support, early warning security alerts, customer care, security training and instruction, and software updates to maintain best security practices in today’s dynamic threat landscape.

Romano concludes, "In difficult economic times such as these, it is our responsibility to support our partners' profitability by listening closely to channel feedback while addressing market transitions in an effort to support long term growth and channel health. We understand channel partners have a number of choices when it comes to network security. Because of this, WatchGuard goes the extra mile to make sure our partners realize their goals and ambitions. We have to; we are 100 percent channel focused."

More information about WatchGuard channel programs is available at: https://www.watchguard.com/partners/index.asp. The complete list of 2009 Channel Chiefs is available at: http://www.crn.com/it-channel/214502185.

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
Since 1996, WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. has been the advanced technology leader of network security solutions, providing mission-critical security to hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. The WatchGuard family of wired and wireless unified threat management appliances and WatchGuard SSL VPN remote access solutions provide extensible network security, unparalleled network visibility, management and control. WatchGuard products are backed by WatchGuard LiveSecurity® Service, an innovative support, maintenance, and education program. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle and has offices serving North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit www.watchguard.com.

WatchGuard and LiveSecurity are registered trademarks of WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. All other marks are property of their respective owners.