The VAR Guy

Symantec CEO Enrique Salem is set to keynote Symantec Partner Engage tomorrow (Oct. 13, Chandler, Ariz.). The VAR Guy expects an update on Symantec.cloud, Symantec O3 and plenty more from Salem, Channel Chief Randy Cochran and the Symantec partner team. In fact, here are four themes that will surely emerge at Symantec Partner Engage.

1. Symantec Stability: Imagine that. After several years or turbulence and a few missteps, Symantec has enjoyed quiet success with channel partners over the past year or so. Old debates about going direct seem to have quieted down. New product launches such as Symantec Endpoint Protection 12 didn’t suffer any major setbecks. Sometimes, quiet execution can be a good thing. And on Wall Street, Symantec delivered record Q1 revenues in July 2011. The VAR Guy is watching to see if the upward momentum continues…

2. Cloud Meets Recurring Revenues: In some ways, Symantec was painfully late to cloud computing. Storage and security were two of the first cloud services that MSPs and VARs adopted, yet Symantec was mostly quiet in both areas. That is, until 2011 rolled around. The company started promoting a Symantec.cloud brand back in February 2011 or so. And classic brands like Symantec Backup Exec are being extended into the cloud.

At Symantec Partner Engage 2009, Salem predicted that SaaS and cloud will generate roughly 15 percent of company revenues within five years or so. Is Symantec on-track to meet that projection? And how or Symantec channel partners potentially generating recurring cloud revenues? The VAR Guy is poking around for answers.

3. Next Moves: Symantec has been previewing Symantec O3 — which is designed to offer access control, information security, and compliance control across public, private and hybrid clouds. The VAR Guy is curious to see if Symantec O3 delivers the goods, especially for partners.

4. Mobile Security: Anybody else notice Symantec’s DLP (data loss prevention) for tablets? The Symantec DLP offering supports Apple iPads today, with Google Android support arriving sometime in 2012. The VAR Guy and his sister site, MSPmentor, continue to evangelize Mobile Device Management (MDM) to VARs and MSPs. We’ll see if anyone is listening during Symantec Partner Engage.

Will Salem touch on the points above during his keynote? The VAR Guy doesn’t know for sure. But no doubt, Channel Chief Randy Cochran and other Symantec officials will explore those themes throughout the conference.

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