Competition helps inspire two teams to push further and the fans to cheer harder.

In business, as in the case of McAfee and Symantec, our rivalry means we create better products, push to stay on top, and help our partners do the same.

Head-to-Head in CRN

As you may have seen, CRN’s Head-to-Head slideshow featured McAfee and Symantec competing in the security arena around spyware protection, intrusion prevention, and overall channel profitability.

As with any good rivalry, the game is always exciting. While CRN’s consensus is that Symantec does have a strong portfolio, McAfee came out on top for Security Management Console (ePolicy Orchestrator), cutting-edge hardware-based security, and overall partner profitability.

“Show me the money” –  Keeping Partners Profitable

While industry accolades validate the work we do at McAfee–and we’re always flattered to receive them—one of the biggest success metrics for me is to see partners’ profitability increase. So we were especially thrilled to hear that partners told CRN that our channel program is more profitable and that our efforts to increase support for your businesses haven’t gone unnoticed.

And customers appreciate the results, too. For customers, we’re setting a new industry standard for time to respond. We know it can be difficult to share intelligence across different solutions and that’s an issue for customers who are dealing with threats and want to respond quickly.

Transforming Security, Together

As I wrote back in February in my post Transforming the Security Industry…Together, you can’t adequately protect customers from the volume and sophistication of today’s cyber attacks without an integrated security platform that proactively and intelligently protects. That’s why using an end-to-end McAfee solution is so key to network security for customers.

We’ve got the tools to respond to threats in real time with Real Time ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) that queries information from all of your customer’s endpoints in seconds, leading to more intelligent analysis and quick decision making on the part of IT.

With new devices and new threats hitting networks every day, it’s our goal to work together to ensure customers’ networks stay secure through innovative products and help you stay profitable through innovative channel programs.

If you couldn’t attend, please be sure to view the replay and understand our strategy plus the tools and resources available to you to drive mutual profitability.

In our first quarter, McAfee saw solid new business growth and very strong growth in our Web Gateway and SIEM technologies. Deal registration was also up nearly 40% y/y.

Our numbers demonstrate our success together. However, we need to continue to disrupt and create new avenues for growth and profitability. Lisa Matherly, Vice President, WW Partner Programs and Marketing, provided a recap of how we can do it:

• Invest – Take advantage of the Stack Challenge, McAfee Rewards, and ACE Incentive.
• Grow – Use our new Data Center & SMB channel kits & Rebates Program.
• Optimize – Read the Channel Spotlight Playbook (available May 22), download the new iPad app on (available May 29), and take the Fast Start SMB Training.

Michael Fey, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, rounded out the call with an informative and insightful discussion around Big Security Data and how McAfee is simplifying the move from security intelligence to action, creating not only operational efficiencies for our customers, but also an industry-leading security posture that only McAfee and our partners can deliver.  Our Big Security Data channel kit went live today.

Again, I encourage you to watch the event replay and understand how our Big Security Data solution enables our customers to move fast, learn quickly, and act decisively.

We can do more together. Be sure to follow us closely @McAfeeChannelChief in the weeks ahead, don’t leave money on the table by taking advantage of the McAfee Stack, and save the date for the Partner Summit at FOCUS 13, Sept. 30-Oct. 1.

Together we can!

In fact, to ensure you are equipped with everything you need to act upon all that we presented and discussed, we’ve created a dedicated Partner Summit 2012 webpage just for you.  Click here to easily access all the presentations, videos, helpful content, collateral and photos from the event.

If you missed the 2012 Partner Summit, our Town Hall on Nov. 8, 2012 provided a recap not only of my Partner Summit keynote, but also a Q3 business review, an informative network security technology chat with McAfee SVP & GM Pat Calhoun, and then closed off with our key priorities and call to action for Q4.  If you missed the Town Hall, you can access the on-demand recording here.

One key component I identified in our Partner Connected formula for success is picking a vendor that is relevant to your business. A vendor that has a channel strategy that drives mutual profitability and provides the innovative solutions that allow you to differentiate and grow. Let me highlight a few recent accolades that exemplify why McAfee is the best vendor for today’s security-focused partners:

• Made CRN’s 2012 Top 25 Companies to Partner With
• Q3 Gartner Magic Quadrant Leaders: Secure Email Gateways, IPS Systems, Mobile Data Protection
• SC Magazine Database Activity Monitoring Best Buy Rating
• CRN: McAfee Unveils Best Practice Initiative for Channel Partnerships
• 2012 ChannelPro SMB All-Star
• VARGuy: Security Connected Platform

Our quest is to be your leading vendor of choice.  In short, I want an unfair share of your attention, resources and commitment to be truly connected.

In 2012, we’ve built out several new programs, tools and resources we believe are critically relevant to ensuring your success with McAfee. Simply go to the new McAfee partner portal to:

• FIND OUT—Answers to your questions, simply type in your question in Partner Chat
• FIGURE OUT—How much you stand to profit using the Profitability Calculator (Profitability Section)
• FINISH OUT—Complete Certification by December 31, (Training & Events Section)
• STAND OUT—Check your status on the ACE Activity Tracker (Training & Events Section)

I cannot stress enough how important it is we work together and connect to achieve our mutual business goals.  Let’s close out this year with a big bang as we move aggressively into 2013.

With Vegas still lingering in the back of my mind, I’m all in.  How about you?

You want more? How about the opportunity to register for an Executive Exchange with McAfee Co-Presidents Mike DeCesare and Todd Gebhart, EVP of Sales Joe Sexton and SVP of WW Channels, Gavin Struthers.

More? Well than check out this video.

There are a couple of key items I do want highlight for you to take note of as you prepare to attend this year’s McAfee Partner Summit.

• Our new Partner Business Sessions on Wednesday, Oct. 24, from 1:30-6PM are in Palazzo A on the 5th Floor. In these sessions we will cover key topics, such as:
  • Building an MSP Practice
  • How to Sell McAfee Network Security and Database Security
  • Marketing Best Practices to Accelerate Sales
  • Understanding Today’s CIO/CSO, featuring CIOs/CSOs from BMC, SAP, McAfee and Windsor, moderated by well-known channels blogger Joe Panettieri

We know you live on your phones so this will be a very mobile friendly event. Make sure you download a popular QR Code reader prior to leaving for Las Vegas so you don’t miss out.

Also, follow McAfeeChannels on Twitter (remember the first 500 followers get a $5 gift card from Starbucks) and our hashtag #MFEPS12.

I look forward to seeing you all in Vegas.

#10: Location, Location, Location: The event is being held at the Venetian, the premier luxury hotel in Las Vegas.

#9: 98%: That’s the percentage of last year’s Partner Summit attendees that said they wanted to return in 2012.

#8: Lounge Poolside: Gavin Struthers, SVP WW Channels at McAfee is hosting a Welcome Reception at the exclusive Azure Pool Club.

#7: Hear the Rebel Yell: See rocker Billy Idol in concert.

#6: 5-Minutes of Fame: Take a walk on the red carpet at our Partner Appreciation party at the famous TAO nightclub.

#5: Security Connected-Partner Connected: It is all about strengthening our relevance with you, our channel partners, learn more at the Partner Summit General Session, featuring keynotes from Gavin Struthers, Joe Sexton and a special guest speaker as well as a Q&A session with Mike DeCesare.

#4: Gain Valuable Customer Insight: We have a great roundtable on Understanding Today’s CIO, we have a session on How to Sell McAfee Network and Database Security that will focus on customer examples and our guest speaker’s keynote will be on delivering the Ultimate Customer Experience.

#3: Learn From Industry Experts: The Partner Summit is no longer about just hearing from McAfee. This year we are bringing in a Marketing and a MSP expert to lead insightful and informative Partner Business Sessions.

#2: Engage with McAfee Executives: Register today and you could sign up to participate in an Executive Exchange with Mike DeCesare, Joe Sexton or Gavin Struthers.

#1: It’s a Top 100 Channel Partner Conference: The McAfee Partner Summit made the VARGuy’s Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences for 2012 (rumor is he will be joining us in Las Vegas).

You can keep up-to-date on all the Partner Summit action by following McAfeeChannels on Twitter or our Partner Summit hashtag #MFEPS12.

Look forward to seeing you in Vegas!

Q2 saw one of our strongest quarters ever in deals over $1 million, helping drive Enterprise growth in all theaters. These results point to the customer strength and relevance of our Security Connected strategy as it continues to spark more end-to-end deployments across the endpoint, the network and in the cloud, providing the most advanced protection with unified management powered by our world leading GTI (Global Threat Intelligence).

We are also continuing to see increased results from our SMB focus. Significant investments to fuel SMB growth have been made in terms of updates and enhancements to our SMB suites, improved training tools, and the doubling of the McAfee Rewards payout on our SMB suite family. Based on our double-digit increase in SMB deal registration bookings in Q2, these investments are starting to pay off and build momentum.

Technology Chat with Mike Fey

During the Town Hall Technology Chat with Mike Fey, our SVP of Advanced Technologies and Field Engineering, Mike talked about the future of Security Connected, and more specifically, how our recent acquisition of NitroSecurity helps us together with our partners deliver a highly scalable SIEM environment that brings actionable situation awareness and countermeasure awareness.   For Partners, McAfee’s SIEM (McAfee ESM – Enterprise Security Manager) brings significant new revenue opportunity with a SIEM that is less expensive to purchase, deploy and operate.  This business is growing >100% for McAfee  – get on board!

Priorities for the Second Half: Capitalizing on the Momentum

We have tremendous momentum heading into the second half of the year and to capitalize on this momentum we remain focused on driving relevance and mutual profitability:

• Broaden Your Expertise to Sell More:  Your customers are looking for trusted security advisors to help solve their challenges. Become that resource by expanding your security expertise. This includes driving more POCs through your ACEs, leveraging the new demo simulation tool in your sales efforts, and taking advantage of our new continuing education tracking tool.
• Grow Your Business with McAfee: The solutions and programs are in place to help drive new opportunities around SIEM, and recurring revenue from services through our new Managed Services Partner Program.
• Maximize Your Profit: Take advantage of our Profitability Stack that includes enhanced deal registration, our rich partner Rewards program, and our special Q3 promotion.

The security opportunity is larger than ever before. And, with the recent unveiling of our exciting Q3 bundle promotion McAfee Total Access, now is the time to take action!

Finally, if you have not registered for our upcoming Partner Summit taking place October 23-25 in Las Vegas, I encourage you to do so today.

Good selling!

“The Stack” includes six essential building blocks that work together to optimize your profit opportunity with McAfee.
1. Enhanced Deal Registration: McAfee’s largest single investment in partner profitability, offering deal protection as well as up to 25% of additional margin for partners who secure incremental new business. In addition, we have added five more products to our SMB Deal Registration program.
2. Incumbency Advantage: Provides incumbent partners with up to 5% of additional margin on the first renewal to help them build loyalty through customer retention and to provide competitive advantage when renewing.
3. Rebates: Now you can track your earnings potential through a weekly rebate tracking report. And, the ACE Incentive Rebate is now globally available, allowing eligible partners to earn up to a 4% rebate on the MSRP value of the opportunity.
4. Rewards: Allows partners to earn cash and prizes for selling McAfee. Enhancements include: $25,000 in quarterly SMB End Point “Top Performer” payouts; $35,000 in Commercial End Point “Top Performer” payout. And, in the Commercial market, we are extending our McAfee Rewards $1 per node offer on select products for the remainder of 2012.
5. Teaming Plan: Rewards you with deal protection and 5% additional margin for helping to work and close McAfee-founded opportunities. Enhancements include the removal of a Teaming Plan threshold to drive additional growth in the commercial market.
6. Tiered Pricing: Recognizes and rewards our Elite and Premier Partners’ investment in McAfee. And, as a result, they earn pricing advantages based on their McAfee SecurityAlliance program level. Our new automated pricing process allows distributors to make tiered pricing available to authorized resellers.

If you are sales minded like I am, you are already trying to figure out how this can help you close more deals. Allow me to introduce you to the McAfee Profitability Stack Calculator, which shows how much you can earn when selling McAfee security solutions. This is a must see!

Finally, this is just one of many things we are doing to highlight how we continue to invest in, grow with and optimize for you. To keep up dated on the latest McAfee channel programs and initiatives, please attend our Quarterly Global Channel Partner Town Hall on Thursday, July 26, at 8AM (PST).

Good Selling
Gavin-

Q1 Highlights – Tremendous Momentum Underway

Q1 was the best quarter in the company’s history. Thanks for making me look good in my first quarter in the new role. We achieved balanced growth across all theaters and all segments. In fact, several areas of the business came in ahead of plan, including – Network Security, Application and Change Control and Enterprise Security Manager (fueled by our NitroSecurity SIEM business.)

We’ve also received various industry accolades in Q1, that validate our momentum, including:

• SC Magazine — Best Global Security Company of the Year
• CRN  — Top 20 Coolest Cloud Security Vendors
• CRN — 5-Star Partner Program

The Database Security Market: A Greenfield Growth Opportunity

Mike Fey, our SVP of Advanced Technologies and Field Engineering, pointed out in our Tech Chat that database security will double to a $1.2B market by 2013. Combine that with the fact that more than 90% of all data breaches involve a database, and it is easy to see that together we have a massive opportunity to protect our mutual-customers. We want to help you build or strengthen your database security practice. To build a practice step 1 is to get Risk & Compliance certified by logging into our Partner Portal and going to our new Partner Learning Center. To strengthen your practice I highly recommend checking out our database security sales play, which you can access by logging into our Sales and Marketing Portal. And be on the look out for a database security ACE in July.

Key Priorities for Q2: Build Your Expertise, Amplify Your Value

Become a trusted advisor to your customers by building your expertise and amplifying your value through these resources:

• VSKO – Take advantage of these online sales resources to grow your product and sales expertise. Complete a Sales Play and learn how to sell more while demonstrating value.
• Accredited Channel Engineer Program (ACEs) – Our data shows that, together, we have won business deals about 90% of the time when ACE Proof-of-Concepts (POCs) have been completed. Over 200 POCs were completed or in progress by our partners in Q1.  Our goal is to continue to have partners deliver more POC’s without the help of a McAfee SE.
• Capture the SMB Opportunity – SMB represents a significant growth opportunity (nearly $7.5 billion by 2015).  To help motivate you to go after that SMB market, we are doubling the rewards points in our SMB program, under TSB, TSA, and STP suites.
• Win Great Prizes with the Rewards Extravaganza – Every deal you book in the Commercial and SMB segments makes you eligible for great prizes, including our grand prize drawings in Q3–$20,000 SMB Extravaganza and $25,000 for Commercial Extravaganza.

Finally, our Partner Summit will take place October 23-25 in Las Vegas. More details to follow, but please save the date, as I look forward to seeing you there in person.

Good selling!

The momentum we are building together already encourages me, especially when you consider our recent industry accolades. In Q1 we garnered two industry awards from CRN – McAfee placed on the Top 20 Coolest Cloud Security Vendors list and we earned the coveted 5-Star Partner Program Award, which is based on our level of commitment to the channel, breadth of program offerings and services offered to partners. Both of these awards put McAfee in exclusive company and are a testament to our hard work and commitment to deliver superior products and programs that drive mutual success.

As we kick off Q2, we continue to focus on driving mutual profitability by investing in, growing with, and optimizing for you. I want to quickly highlight a few areas we are investing in to help fuel growth in Q2:

• SMB — We see an enormous growth opportunity in the SMB market. With this in mind we have made an investment in our SMB Rewards Program; SMB Extravaganza, as much as quadrupling our payout on 1-250 nodes of TSA, TSB and STP products. Yes, you can earn $2/node you sell! Log on to McAfee Rewards to get started.
• Commercial – This is another market opportunity where together I see tremendous growth potential. To help compensate you for driving McAfee sales in this market we more than doubled our Commercial Rewards; McAfee Extravaganza, payout on 251-1000 node deals that include EPA, STP, TSA and TEB products.
• Partner Enablement – In Q1 we announced the evolution of our partner enablement strategy, unveiling the McAfee Partner Learning Center, our new continuing education approach to maintaining annual certifications and our first continuing education learning module; the 2012 Virtual Sales Kickoff. I encourage all of our partners to login to our partner portal and access informative “Sales Plays”. Not only is it fresh and valuable content, participating allows you to earn credits toward your annual certification.

In closing, I wanted to remind you that our next Town Hall meeting is Thursday, May 3^rd where  we will feature McAfee Co-President, Mike DeCesare as well as  McAfee SVP, Advanced Technology and Field Engineering, Mike Fey, who will outline our market opportunity in Database Security. Please mark your calendars for this important webcast.

Welcome to Q2 and good selling.