The channel is entering a new phase of consolidation as customers demand simpler, more unified approaches to securing and connecting their environments. Tom Evans, Chief Partner Officer, Cloudflare, tells us how the company’s new solution bundles are empowering partners to deliver end-to-end protection and performance through a single, scalable platform.
Cloudflare, a leading connectivity cloud company, has announced the acceleration of its channel business with new solution bundles across its platform for partners.
The newly launched bundles enable Cloudflare’s PowerUP Partner Programme partners to help businesses better secure and manage their applications through a single platform with tailored bundles—eliminating the complexity from multiple solutions.
Today, organisations are using more applications and AI workloads in an effort to make their business faster and more productive. However, this digital sprawl also means there are more applications that need to be managed and secured. Traditionally, partners have been tasked with identifying and managing solutions for only select areas of a business, without visibility across all of the various applications they may be using. To better protect their entire organisation, companies need partners that can deliver a consolidated approach to securing their entire environment—not just specific applications or business areas.
Cloudflare’s PowerUP Partner Programme now offers solution bundles to equip partners with the tools to eliminate application complexity, reduce cyber-risk, enable connectivity between multiple clouds and cut costs. The new solution bundles also provide substantial discounts for partners, dependent on the partner level and solutions. Each bundle is tailored to give any customer a clear path to adopt networking and security with SASE and application services at scale.
Tom Evans, Chief Partner Officer, Cloudflare, said: “Partners are at the core of Cloudflare’s go-to-market strategy. This past year we have introduced innovative tools, launched impactful incentives and expanded enablement to help our partners equip more businesses with the security, performance and reliability of Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud platform. Partners are actively turning to us to help customers consolidate at scale. Now, our new solution bundles will help them capitalise on this opportunity.”
PowerUP Partner testimonials
Cloudflare continues to expand its strategic partnerships across global service integrators, managed security service providers, resellers and distributors, such as with IBM Cloud, Kyndryl, Rakuten Mobile, GuidePoint Security and Presidio, among other leading organisations worldwide.
Nataraj Nagaratnam, IBM Fellow, CTO, AI Security and Architecture, said: “Both IBM and Cloudflare share a commitment to equip businesses with security, reliability and speed across their Internet properties. Together, with IBM Cloud Internet Services powered by Cloudflare, we have been delivering solutions to enterprises worldwide, including large banks and insurance companies. We are proud to be collaborating with Cloudflare as we strive to deliver solutions that can withstand the evolving Internet and threat landscape.”
Paul Savill, Global Practice Leader for Network and Edge, Kyndryl, said: “Kyndryl’s alliance with Cloudflare empowers enterprises to modernise their networks with confidence and accelerate their Digital Transformation agendas. Together, we’re enabling customers across industries — from global supply chain leaders to top financial institutions and major manufacturers — to help secure, streamline and simplify their IT infrastructure. The result is an intelligent, more resilient and cost-efficient modern networking foundation for innovation and growth.”
Kazuhiro Suzuki, Co-CEO, Rakuten Mobile, said: “Rakuten Mobile and Cloudflare partnered together this year in April, creating a first-of-its-kind enhanced security service for corporate clients in Japan as Cloudflare’s first MSSP partner in the country, supporting corporate zero-trust security. By combining Cloudflare’s connectivity cloud platform of solutions with our managed services, we’ve been empowering our clients’ Digital Transformation with a one-stop solution for network and security for corporate clients across all sectors in Japan.”
Mark Thornberry, SVP, Partnerships, GuidePoint Security, said: “GuidePoint Security is a trusted advisor to many of the world’s leading organisations. Together with Cloudflare, we’re empowering organisations to reduce risk, strengthen internal and external protections and maintain performance across their digital environments. Our customers—from global financial institutions to multinational hospitality companies—work hand in hand with us to strengthen their security posture, and we’re proud to help secure their businesses, teams and users worldwide.”
Jim Finn, Sales Vice President, Presidio, said: “Presidio’s commitment to delivering speed, quality and innovation perfectly aligns with Cloudflare as the strategic platform that businesses can rely on to secure and optimise their environments. Together, we empower clients across industries from financial services and healthcare to media and beyond to modernise, protect and optimise their environments with confidence.”
In 2025, Cloudflare’s PowerUP Partner Programme was awarded by CRN, receiving the highest accolade of a five-star ranking for its Partner Programme and recognised among the top four cloud security vendors.
We put additional questions to Tom Evans, Chief Partner Officer at Cloudflare, to gain further insight.
What inspired Cloudflare to introduce these new solution bundles for partners under the PowerUP Partner Programme?
For years, the industry has relied on a patchwork of point products to address connectivity and security – one vendor for WAF, another for VPN, another for DDoS mitigation. The result has been complexity, inefficiency and inconsistent protection, so Cloudflare saw an opportunity to rethink this model. Our partners told us they needed a more prescriptive, integrated approach – one that makes it easier to deliver end-to-end protection without the overhead of managing multiple vendors. These new bundles, built around our Externa and Interna solution families, represent our view of what modern security and connectivity architecture should look like. They simplify adoption, reduce total cost of ownership, and give partners a unified way to deliver more value to their customers.
How will the new bundles help partners simplify security and connectivity for their customers?
Each bundle is designed to bring together the essential services customers need – already integrated, optimised and ready to scale. Externa bundles protect and connect public-facing infrastructure like websites, apps and APIs, while Interna bundles secure internal networks, users, and data through Zero Trust and SASE capabilities. This removes the guesswork for partners. Instead of assembling complex, multi-vendor stacks, they can deliver a single, platform-based solution that addresses all layers of connectivity and security. It’s simplicity by design, allowing partners to focus on value and outcomes rather than product integration.
What makes this approach different from traditional multi-solution models in the channel?
Traditional models often leave partners and customers with an expensive maze of tools that don’t talk to each other. Our approach replaces that patchwork with a unified platform, one that’s inherently designed to work together. The tiered structure provides a clear, scalable path for customers as their needs evolve. Partners can start small and expand easily, without re-architecting or re-selling from scratch. It’s not just packaging; it’s Cloudflare’s prescriptive vision for the future of secure, connected business operations – where everything from performance to protection is consolidated into one consistent experience.
How do these bundles support Cloudflare’s broader strategy to accelerate partner growth and collaboration?
These bundles are core to our partner-first transformation. By aligning pricing, packaging and profitability with how partners sell and support customers, we’re enabling them to grow faster and more sustainably. Bundle-based discounts give partners flexibility to design solutions that meet customer needs while improving their own margins. Because the solutions are integrated, partners can also deliver faster, deploy more consistently and reduce service complexity – all of which improve customer satisfaction and retention. Ultimately, this approach deepens collaboration: Cloudflare defines the architecture, and our partners bring it to life through managed, resell and consulting services that drive long-term growth on both sides.
What role does cybersecurity play in the design and value of these partner bundles?
Cybersecurity is at the heart of everything in these bundles. Every component – whether it’s Zero Trust access, DDoS protection, firewalling, or bot management – has been designed to work together to eliminate gaps that exist in multi-vendor environments. By delivering these capabilities through a single, global platform, we’re giving partners the ability to help customers achieve stronger, more consistent protection with lower operational burden. Security shouldn’t be an afterthought or an add-on; it should be embedded in the architecture itself. That’s exactly what these bundles deliver – a modern, consolidated approach that strengthens every connection while simplifying how partners deliver value.
How do you see partnerships with organisations like IBM, Kyndryl and Rakuten Mobile shaping Cloudflare’s future channel strategy?
Partnerships with organisations like IBM, Kyndryl and Rakuten Mobile are key to Cloudflare’s future channel strategy. They represent how we’re extending the reach of our Connectivity Cloud through trusted, service-led ecosystems that help customers modernise, secure and connect their businesses more effectively.
With Rakuten Mobile, for example, we’re combining Cloudflare’s global infrastructure with Rakuten’s regional expertise to deliver scalable, cost-effective cybersecurity for businesses across Japan – particularly SMBs that lack in-house resources. Similarly, our collaboration with Kyndryl is helping enterprises secure AI workloads and networks with confidence, while our partnership with Oracle makes Cloudflare’s security and performance services natively available across multicloud environments.
Together, these alliances illustrate Cloudflare’s partner-first vision: empowering global providers to deliver integrated, managed solutions that help customers innovate securely and efficiently.
