Fresh off its merger announcement of a combination with chip-giant Intel, McAfee has hinted that it might be launching software as a service rollouts for resellers.
Alex Thurber, the company's global channel chief, described the SaaS channel strategy during the McAfee Global Partner Day at McAfee Focus 10 in Las Vegas. Among the other things mentioned at the conference were tips and tricks for endpoint protection and security methods for SMBs. But what a larger SaaS roll out means for McAfee is that the company is stepping up its game in the channel by trying to foster sell-through, via VARs and MSPs, to those aforementioned small businesses.
With Intel's foray into mobile devices and a move to embed anti-malware and exploit technology in its chips, a McAfee SaaS offering could be an interesting proposition for MSPs serious about a security sell-through with the rest of their own proprietary service lines.
Posted by Jabulani Leffall on October 11, 20100 comments
This blog has mentioned before that managed printing services is one of the biggest growth areas in the managed services arena. Given that trend, MSP and tech service firms who want to move into a cosourced or outsourced service business for SMBs might give MPSs a good look.
Typically the MPS service architecture jumps off when a third-party managed a fleet of hardcopy hardware, such as copiers, printers and fax machines, from off site. This can easily be done internally for smaller businesses, but for SMBs that are tempted to outsource regular administrative tasks and have remote helpdesk support for their hardware fleets, it's something to consider.
And many companies are starting to consider it, if new data from the Photizo Group is to believed. Photizo predicts that the MPS market will reach $68 billion by 2014, up from $20 billion in 2008. Photizo even gets technical, insinuating that this niche practice will generate about a 22 percent compound annual growth rate through 2014.
If you think Photizo, which organizes conferences about MPS, just has an ax to grind, you might want to look at what the big boys are doing.
Xerox is migrating in part from manufacturing and break-fix hardware and service lines to MPS and dominates the market with about a 50 percent share of the managed print market. Not be outdone, PC and hardware maker HP recently hinted it would rollout enhancements in its channel through which participating VARs and MSPs can get in on the MPS sweepstakes.
Posted by Jabulani Leffall on October 11, 20100 comments