Offer Managed Security, Anti-Virus Services:
Partner with myCIO.com

Network Associates' security ASP subsidiary is looking for a few good ISPs and hosting providers to transparently resell security services. It'll handle everything down to and including customer service.

by Lisa Phifer
VP Core Competence, Inc.

Enterprise awareness—even paranoia—regarding Internet security threats has created a fast-expanding market for network security products and services. Industry veterans like Network Associates are taking new approaches to penetrate this growth market from every angle. NAI's PGP Technologies division builds encryption, authentication, firewall, intrusion protection, and VPN products for the large enterprise market. NAI's McAfee Software division sells shrink-wrapped desktop security utilities like VirusScan, NetShield, and WebShield to the consumer market. For those who would rather subscribe to a service rather than own product, NAI launched a pair of application service providers: McAfee.com and myCIO.com. McAfee.com focuses on retail sales to the end user, while myCIO.com targets what Ron Kopeck, VP of Sales and Marketing, calls "SME"—the small to medium-size enterprise.

Good for NAI. But why should ISPs care about an ASP like myCIO.com? Simple: To reach the broad enterprise market, myCIO.com must grow a vast distribution channel. Partnering with ISPs that want to add managed security and anti-virus services to their portfolio is a win-win proposition, according to Kopeck. "Our ISP partners usually serve business customers and want to go upstream by adding new security services," said Kopeck. "They do this for two reasons: to garner additional revenue streams, and to continue their foundation by selling bandwidth." MyCIO.com's Corps Partner Initiative was created expressly to establish partnerships with ISPs, ASPs, and mail service providers.

The myCIO.com approach
myCIO.com was launched this past January. "We are a wholly-owned subsidiary of NAI with business units focused on enterprise firewall services and virus protection, based upon best-of-breed products that we license from Network Associates," said Kopeck. "Basically, we 'webify' these products to make them accessible from a browser. We then add reporting capabilities that enable corrective actions to be taken."

MyCIO.com provides managed service capabilities, run out of a security operations center (SOC) located in Phoenix. From the SOC, myCIO.com can configure firewall managed services, scan for vulnerabilities, plan changes administered by channel partners, and provide on-going service monitoring. "Customers can either have us run scans and email them the report, or they can run the scan themselves," said Kopeck. "All of our services are available from a desktop browser, 24 hours a day."

Unlike consumer services that are designed to draw visitors to the McAfee.com website, myCIO.com takes a hands-off approach that better satisfies the enterprise market. "You don't have to visit myCIO.com's website to make sure your anti-virus files are up-to-date," said Kopeck. "Our agent wakes up and automatically connects to our hosted facility at Exodus to check for updates. Even when I travel, an agent on my laptop wakes up when I connect to the Internet—I see a splash screen that tells me what the agent is doing, but it's a totally hands-off process."

MyCIO.com managed services fall into two categories: managed security and managed anti-virus.

Managed anti-virus services
The anti-virus duo VirusScreen ASaP and VirusScan ASaP are subscription services designed to protect the enterprise from Internet-borne viruses. With VirusScan ASaP, software is downloaded to the desktop, where it is routinely monitored and automatically updated. With VirusScreen ASaP, enterprise mail is diverted to myCIO.com's server to be screened, quarantined, or disinfected before reaching the customer's mail server. Web-based reports provide an enterprise-wide view of virus activity, desktop coverage, and outbreak trends for both services.

Price is based upon number of managed desktops or mailboxes, subscription length, and service level. For example, a one-year/50 desktop subscription to VirusScan ASaP Bronze Service runs $2,082 ($3.47 per desktop per month). A one-year/50 mailbox subscription to VirusScreen Bronze Service runs $1,008. Real-time price quotes for any service parameter combo are readily available from myCIO.com's website.

According to Kopeck, SonicWall has been reselling myCIO.com managed anti-virus services through its own VAR channel since June. "SonicWall provides low-end firewalls. They embed our anti-virus capabilities on the version shipped to small businesses," said Kopeck. "After installation, the firewall can initiate a forced upgrade by connecting to our Virus ASaP server."

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