McAfee Advances Its Technology Partner Program

| Jan 7, 2009 | Enterprise Security | Competitive Update

| Analyst: Paula Musich

Current Perspective: Neutral/Positive
Vendor Importance: Moderate
Market Impact: Low

Event Summary

January 21, 2009 -- At its sales kickoff meeting, McAfee announced an expansion of its Security Innovation Alliance with the addition of a new joint Sales Teaming Program tier, backed up by eight selected partners. The partners bring to the table complementary technology in the area of forensics, database security, white-listing, virtualization security, and log management. At the same time, the company announced that its technology partner program now includes 45 members.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Slightly positive on the expansion of McAfee’s Security Innovation Alliance, because it helps McAfee to better grow into the role of trusted partner with customers by filling in missing functionality with integrated third-party products. The new program tier, dubbed the Sales Teaming Program, brings certain technology partners into the sales cycle, where they fill a demand with complementary technology that is gaining in market acceptance.

• Vendor Importance: Moderate to McAfee, because the new Sales Teaming Program may help create more opportunities to cross-sell its expanding product portfolio and offer customers the best of both worlds: best-of-breed with integrated, centralized management. At the same time, it demonstrates McAfee’s ability to attract partners to the program, which was launched in September 2007 without a single partner.

• Market Impact: Low on the threat management market, because the addition of new partners and a new program tier represent business as usual for the 18-month-old program, which got off to a rough start but has seen fairly consistent growth since.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Competitors should point out the arm’s-length nature of the relationship between McAfee and its SIA partners and cast doubt about the level of commitment that McAfee has with those partners.

• It is still early enough in the life of the SIA program for competitors to question whether McAfee will remain a partner or become a competitor as McAfee continues on its acquisitive path.

• Given the limited amount of information available on the level of integration partners are achieving with the McAfee SDK, competitors should describe it as minimal and downplay any customer benefits that may be achieved through it. Competitors should also describe SIA partners as niche players in the security markets.

• The progress McAfee has made over the last five quarters with the SIA should serve as a wakeup call for Symantec, which has not responded with a similar program for SEP. Between a lack of focus on technology partnerships where it does not serve customers and the disarray in its channel partner program, McAfee has an opportunity to steal a march on its larger rival.

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