IBM will announce later this week that it is moving sales of its managed security services to the channel.

The company hopes to take advantage of the relationships that its partner value-added resellers (VARs) and managed service providers (MSPs) already have with small- and medium-sized businesses, according to sources close to the deal. In return, partners will have new opportunities to receive recurring revenue from clients and to incorporate IBM services into their existing managed security offerings, the sources said.

Although the partners will be doing the selling, IBM will still run the managed security services.

SearchSecurityChannel.com will have the full story when it’s announced tomorrow.