As McAfee"s antivirus cash cow becomes commoditized, the security vendor has been giving itself a security risk management makeover. Now channel partners are being encouraged to get up to speed on selling the vendor"s more complex products. McAfee in recent months has been busily acquiring technologies to fill out its security risk management portfolio, which now includes auditing, risk assessment, policy enforcement and data leak prevention offerings. Earlier this month, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor filled a newly created executive position -- vice president and chief technology evangelist -- to spread the word about the myriad benefits of its security risk management products.
Security risk management is McAfee"s overarching approach to selling its entire product portfolio, said Dave Dickison, senior vice president of North American channels. However, since the antivirus market is mature, McAfee wants channel partners to focus on the capabilities of its more complex offerings such as Network Access Control, ePolicy Orchestrator, Foundstone, Preventsys and Data Loss Prevention, he added. "Our intent is to encourage partners away from selling point products to selling a more comprehensive security solution," Dickison said.