McAfee, inc. unveils channel vision and strategy at focus 09 partner day

McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) outlined its 2010 channel vision and strategy to a room of more than 300 partners from around the world gathered at FOCUS 09, McAfee's annual user conference. McAfee also announced a series of initiatives designed to help its partners capitalize on the recovering economy and the ongoing need for more security in every aspect of today's business environment.

McAfee Channel Vision and Strategy During his keynote, Alex Thurber, senior vice president of worldwide channels at McAfee, described the McAfee channel strategy and vision for 2010. The guiding principles of the strategy involve developing a consistent worldwide channels program that is recognized as world-class. The program delivers a value-based, enabled, productive and profitable channel to support a mutual global customer base.

Thurber went on to describe specific elements of the strategy regarding the development of a value-based channel program, with an ongoing focus on ease of doing business and ensuring that partners are rewarded for the investments they make in their relationship with McAfee. He continued with a discussion on new rules of engagement as well as the new McAfee Authorized Support Program, McAfee Managed Security Services Program, U.S. Federal Program and consistent product categorizations and access rules.

"SynerComm recently joined the McAfee SecurityAlliance partner program through the Secure Computing acquisition," said Mark Sollazo, CEO of SynerComm. "At today's partner event I was impressed with the strong executive leadership and technology vision that was presented. These new programs and strategies will help SynerComm uncover new business opportunities for increasing revenue."

Program Enhancements for 2010 As part of McAfee's vision and strategy, immediate steps are being taken to help improve partner profitability and to help partners gain a competitive advantage and get ahead of the impending economic recovery. Program enhancements include: Tiered pricing model - Rewards partners' investment on sales and technical resources Pay for Performance - Strengthening deal registration and teaming plan programs Enablement - A new enablement methodology called Ready, Set, Sell and accreditation program: Accreditation, Certification, Enablement (ACE) "I am so proud of the overwhelming participation at McAfee's first Global Partner Day," said Thurber. "McAfee is committed to educating, enabling and empowering our partner community to address the broad security needs of our mutual customers. I look forward to collaborating with our partners as we drive upcoming enhancements around global program simplification, partner profitability and partner enablement." (C) 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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