“We Meet Partners Where They Are” – SonicWall’s Rajnish Mishra

SonicWall is at an inflection point as it pushes deeper into cloud-native security, co-managed services, and platform unification for partners. To drive that push, the company recently appointed Rajnish Mishra as Chief Development Officer. He’s now leading product direction and innovation with an eye on what matters most to MSPs and MSSPs: profitability, flexibility, and operational simplicity.

SonicWall’s roadmap is designed to help partners attach more services, build recurring revenue, and compete head-to-head with larger security platforms - without giving up choice in how they deliver.

In this conversation with ChannelE2E, Mishra lays out his top priorities, how SonicWall is packaging cloud and co-managed services for partners, and the strategy to stand out in a crowded security market.

ChannelE2E: What are your top three immediate strategic priorities to move SonicWall's vision forward, and how will you measure progress over the next 12–18 months?

Rajnish Mishra: Over the next year and a half, we’re zeroing in on three priorities that really define where SonicWall is headed: First, Security Edge Migration. We’re moving past appliance-only approaches and leaning into hybrid and cloud-native services. That includes SASE and SSE capabilities like ZTNA, DNS filtering, and URL filtering. We’ll be tracking success by the number of partners transacting in cloud security and by adoption rates - whether those services are used in hybrid environments or fully in the cloud.

Second, the Co-Managed Firewall Bundle (MPSS). This gives every partner the chance to sell co-managed firewalls with support from our SonicSentry NOC team. That includes monitoring, patch management, health checks, and a $200K cyber warranty. Here, the measure of success is how often MPSS gets attached to new and upgraded Gen 7 and Gen 8 devices.

Third, Platformization. We’re building out a unified ecosystem that ties together endpoint, network, and business risk services, with MSP-ready features and more third-party integrations. The key metrics here are user growth, migration progress, and customer satisfaction.

In short, our goal is to create a smarter, more connected security ecosystem that gives partners an edge in a fast-changing threat landscape.

ChannelE2E: As SonicWall expands cloud-native offerings - ZTNA, SSE, co-managed services, SonicPlatform - how are you thinking about packaging them for MSPs: as product-led tools, managed services, or a mix? What’s the model that actually drives partner profitability?

Rajnish Mishra: We see SSE as part of a step-by-step journey from legacy appliance-based solutions toward cloud and subscription services as they evolve away from security services delivered on an appliance and move to consuming some or all of those services in the cloud. For MSPs, the most profitable path leverages existing hardware while layering on more advanced security and connectivity as cloud-delivered enhancements; eliminating the need for constant hardware replacement.  

Central to this vision is our SonicWall Unified Management (SUM), which brings network and cloud security together, creating a security ecosystem in a single pane of glass. Every update to our ZTNA and SSE roadmaps focuses on making management easier and more efficient for MSPs, helping them deliver greater value with less operational complexity. 

ChannelE2E: How do you plan to align SonicWall’s product roadmap with evolving MSP/MSSP needs, from functionality and SLAs to platform integrations and operational support?

We’re taking a platform-first approach. Rather than thinking about individual product roadmaps, we’re designing solutions that work together and reflect how partners actually deliver services. Our product teams take an “outside-in” view - they spend time in the field, listen to Sales and Support, and make sure innovations are both manageable and profitable.

That’s why you see MSP-ready features in our CSE solutions, the ZTNA cloud connector built directly into our firewall OS, an expanded Service Provider Program, and the co-managed firewall license bundle with round-the-clock SOC and NOC support. All of it is aimed at giving MSPs maximum value without adding complexity.

ChannelE2E: SonicWall is up against strong platform plays from Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Check Point. What’s your strategy for carving out a clear identity in the MSP/MSSP market - on pricing, functionality, support, or something else?

Rajnish Mishra: We’re staying true to our long-standing commitment to MSPs and MSSPs of all sizes. The way we differentiate comes down to three things:

ChannelE2E: You’re inheriting a partner ecosystem that spans traditional VARs and next-gen MSSPs. How do you balance the need to innovate fast in cloud and AI with the need for platform stability and long-term predictability?

Rajnish Mishra: For us, it’s all about balance - speed, stability, and simplicity. On the hybrid cloud front, one infrastructure and management system supports both on-prem and cloud-delivered services, with SonicOS delivering automatic updates. We’ve built flexible adoption into the approach, so partners and SMEs can move to the cloud at their own pace without losing security or stability.

Simplicity at scale is a priority, which is why features like Secure Web Gateway are easy enough for small MSPs to manage on their own. At the same time, larger MSSPs can customize advanced features to fit more complex environments.

ChannelE2E: As you scale SonicWall’s cloud-native capabilities, how will you give partners enough flexibility to avoid lock-in, especially those managing multi-cloud or hybrid stacks for clients?

Rajnish Mishra: We know most partners already have “best-of-breed” stacks, and they’ve built teams and processes around them. Our job isn’t to force an all-or-nothing choice - it’s to fit into those stacks.

Take wireless access: a lot of partners use Extreme or Aruba, so we integrate with those, while also offering our own access points when they make sense. Same with endpoint security - we sell our own, but we also support MDR for other EDR platforms like Sophos and Defender.

We’ll keep expanding the platform in an agnostic way, giving partners the option to integrate what they already use or adopt our solutions when it fits. The goal is to simplify the security ecosystem while keeping flexibility firmly in the partner’s hands.