“We expect to grow at 35-40% y-o-y in 2011”

What are
your strategies to penetrate in the SMB segment?

In the OND
quarter of 2011, McAfee has launched an SMB product as a pilot
project in India and Australia. This hybrid solution aims to enable
partners and customers to deploy it in the form factor of
software-as-aservice or on-premise (client-server) architecture. The
product includes comprehensive features to provide complete
protection to end-points from viruses, malwares, spyware, and harmful
websites. We would promote it through our existing network of
distributors and resellers. We have rolled out McAfee SMB Program
through our distributors to encourage them to recruit new partners in
B and C class cities of India and independently drive sales for
customers below 250 users.

What is
your channel model for the distribution of thisproduct? Has the
company's channel structure changed after the Intel acquisition?

McAfee India
is 100% channel focused company. All our businesses run through
channel partners and they form the core pillars of our growth. McAfee
has 1,400 registered partners in India with tier-2 model that
consists of distributors who help to sell the McAfee products to
customers through resellers. Our partners have been demarcated into
elite, premier and associate categories. We are bullish about our
growth in tier-2 cities and are organizing lot of training programs
with our partners in Pune, Ahmedabad, and other tier-2 cities.
Specifically on the consumer side, McAfee has been working with
retail channel partners in India for over 3 years now and hasan
extremely robust and successful partner framework. We have Ingram
Micro as our exclusive national distributor and 1 sub-distributor
eachin 11 cities-Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru,Chennai,
Jaipur, Gurgaon, Pune, Guwahati, Chandigarh, and Ahmedabad. We are
planning to increase the number of sub-distributors to 22 this year.
After the Intel acquisition, there are no changes to our channel
structure. From a channel perspective, McAfee and Intel will be
jointly working on bringing in a new wave of security technology
solutions.

How many
channel partners are there currently with McAfee worldwide as well as
in India? Do you plan to increase the channel base in India by the
end of this fiscal?

Globally,
McAfee has 20,000 partners. Currently, we have almost 1,400 resellers
in India that support both enterprise and consumer sales. McAfee has
8 elite partners and 20 premier partners and the remaining will be
either associate partners or partners registered through McAfee
website. We are looking to consolidate and focus on empowering our
existing partners rather than ramping up our numbers on this front.

Please
explain McAfee's channel road map and strategy for the Indian
market.

We expect to
be growing at 35-40% on y-o-y basis in 2011. McAfee has been growing
above the industry growth rates for the last 3 years and will
continue the trend in 2011. We have made key investments in verticals
such as government, banking, financial services, and telecom in our
enterprise business. We expect to capture significant marketshare in
technologies like web security, enterprise mobility management and
consolidate our position in technologies like intrusion prevention,
end-point security and vulnerability management.