McAfee Plays Channel Safe

McAfee intends to integrate SafeBoot Technology's channel following its acquisition of the mobile security vendor.

The $350 million transaction, announced Oct. 9, will give McAfee a stronger foothold in the data encryption market, McAfee President and CEO Dave DeWalt said in a statement.

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"With the acquisition of SafeBoot, McAfee becomes a leader in the fast-growing $1 [billion] encryption market and we will be able to offer a complete data protection solution that combines SafeBoot's device, full-disk and content encryption with McAfee's data loss prevention solutions," DeWalt said. "This combination helps advance our Security Risk Management strategy and extend our leadership at the end-point."

In terms of its channel strategy, Sal Viveros, director of worldwide public relations at McAfee, said that the company's "intention is to maintain SafeBoot's channel and integrate it into the McAfee channel. We are huge compared to SafeBoot, so its partners will benefit from our existing channel and distribution. For our partners, it's a great up-selling opportunity to sell SafeBoot, and vice versa, for SafeBoot partners selling McAfee. This gives both sets of partners the opportunity to revisit existing customers with more opportunities."

McAfee's channel program is well established, and once the deal is done, the company is likely to spend six months evaluating the best way to integrate the SafeBoot channel program into its Global Alliance program, Viveros said.

"SafeBoot has a well established customer base and we want to take care to ensure we find out how they like to buy, whether it's through certain channels," he said.

SafeBoot's customer base is split geographically, with about 47 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, 29 percent in North America and 23 percent in Asia Pacific.