The VAR Guy

Miami Beach, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and San Jose. How many places can The VAR Guy really be at once? You’ll find out over the next few days. In the meantime, here are six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t have time to write for the week ending Feb. 26, 2010.

It’s right around midnight. The VAR Guy should be sleeping. But our resident blogger just heard another wake-up call for entrenched security software providers. The details: Lenovo and Sophos are set to announce an expanded security partnership aimed directly at the channel. The deal, set to debut Feb. 23, calls for Lenovo to offer Sophos security and “data protection technology bundles” with Lenovo Think-branded PCs for corporate customers. Where do VARs fit in? Here are some clues.

Small but growing super-fast in the security software market. That’s the best way to describe Kaspersky Lab’s revenues in the Americas market, where sales have grown from $2 million in 2005 to more than $100 million in 2009, the company revealed at the Kaspersky Lab Americas conference. So, what’s driving that growth — and can Kaspersky maintain its channel-centric focus? Here are some clues from the conference, continuing today in the Dominican Republic.

A small name change can signify a big shift in thinking. In this case, Trend Micro has rebranded its Worry-Free Business Security Hosted suite of cloud-based security tools. The new brand:  Worry-Free Business Security Services. The effort include a major product-wide upgrade — and compatibility with Trend Micro’s remote management product. Here’s the scoop.

Our next MSPmentor Live webcast is Wednesday, October 21 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. We’ll cover six tips that help you upsell managed security services. Here’s a bit more about the webcast…

Trend Micro’s TJ Alldridge describes how solutions providers generate recurring revenue from Worry-Free Business Security Solutions. Here’s a chapter-by-chapter look at the podcast…

 

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Say hello to Trend Micro in the managed services market. The VAR Guy hears Trend Micro is working to integrate with a range of remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools. In fact, this is more than high-tech gossip. The work is real. Here’s the scoop.

Two days after Symantec officially ushered in a new CEO, rival Trend Micro attempted to get a leg up in the software as a service (SaaS) security market. Here’s the scoop, from The VAR Guy.

The VAR Guy likes simple messages that cut right to the point. So when Trend Micro launched its new “Worry-Free” security software brand, he was intrigued. What exactly is Worry-Free, and what does it mean to solutions providers? Here are some thoughts from our resident blogger.

Better late than never. Symantec, nearly three years after acquiring Veritas, appears to be hitting its stride. At least that’s the spin Symantec gave after announcing surprisingly strong earnings on April 30.