McAfee Inc. has moved distribution of its Foundstone line of vulnerability assessment products to the channel, cementing its acquisition of the company last year.
With the shift to pass Foundstone hardware and software through Ingram Micro Canada and Tech Data Canada, the bulk all McAfee
software and hardware sales now go through distribution.
Foundstone, which makes an enterprise-class appliance and software, dealt almost entirely directly with its dealers, which made a contrast to the almost all-channel model of McAfee. That didn’t change as the company digested the acquisition.
“We were doing it (distribution) on a very ad hoc basis, taking orders directly from dealers” said Jack Sebbag, McAfee Canada’s general manager.
But this week it announced that Ingram and Tech Data will be handling Foundstone products. They include Foundstone Enterprise 4.0 software and the FS100 Enterprise appliance.
The two major broadline distributors have always been McAfee’s leading channel outlets, Sebbag said, and they have the most reach to resellers.
The move is also another way McAfee is pushing its hundreds of resellers to move into network security management from just selling anti-virus products.
Foundstone has been grouped along with McAfee’s Entracept and IntruShield network management and intrusion detection software as lines it wants resellers to emphasize.
“Resellers and integrators with the skill sets to sell and support these technologies will see substantial benefits because this is a growing market,” said Sebbag.
So far about a dozen Canadian resellers have been certified to sell Foundstone, he said. The company hopes to add three more.
To be certified, a McAfee Elite partner has to have three technical and three sales staff pass training courses. Premier partners need two of each, while associate partners need only one technician and one sales specialist.
“It’s a pretty complicated solution,” said Mike Gazdic, Ingram Micro Canada’s vice-president of vendor management, “but combined with McAfee’s intrusion detection products allows our resellers to provide a full suite of solutions for large IT infrastructures, as opposed to offering pieces.”
It also emphasizes Ingram’s focus on emerging technologies, he said. “We’ve made it a point to grow our business on security, storage and intrusion technologies.”
