The VAR Guy

The John Thompson era is over at Symantec, and new CEO Enrique Salem (pictured) is striving to give channel partners peace of mind as Symantec marches forward. With that goal in mind, Salem has dispatched a letter to partners. The letter contains trusted IT advisor jargon — verbiage The VAR Guy typically avoids. But, let’s give Salem credit here. He is wise to show some love to Symantec’s channel. Take a look.

When asked what Symantec has learned from the 2005 Veritas acquisition — which under-performed expectations the first few years — Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem described  three lessons.

Symantec Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem says the company is weighing whether (or not) to replace former global channel chief Julie Parrish. Here are some options he’s mulling.

During Symantec Partner Engage, Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem said the company plans to spend roughly $1 billion annually on acquisitions — targeting roughly three to six companies per year — for the foreseeable future.

Within moments of taking the stage at the Symantec Partner Engage conference this morning, Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem answered the unspoken question on The VAR Guy’s mind. Here’s what Salem said, along with five themes from his keynote.

The VAR Guy just downed his third Latte in six hours. He’s gearing up for extensive briefings at today’s Symantec Partner Engage in Washington, D.C. The theme: Partners, Symantec says, are the heartbeat of the company. It’s a strange moment in The VAR Guy’s online life: He’s surrounded by Symantec PR as he writes this.

When The VAR Guy last month noticed Julie Parrish wasn’t scheduled to speak at Symantec Partner Engage, he started asking hard questions: Was Parrish — Symantec’s global channel chief — still with the company? Would she be at the event? At first, Symantec PR said all was well and Parrish would be present. But then the story changed dramatically.

The VAR Guy intends to keep a close eye on Symantec Partner Engage — a channel event scheduled for Oct. 15 to 17 in Washington, D.C. The conference is an ideal setting for Symantec to break bread with any partners that are worried about the company’s channel commitment. However, here’s something curious: Julie Parrish, VP of Symantec’s Global Channel Office, is not listed as a guest speaker on the agenda.