Network Security Hardware
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Powerful
and management features combined with a channel approach that rewards top-performing partners catapulted McAfee to victory in the
hardware category.
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McAfee placed first in this year's CRN Channel Champions survey with an overall rating of 77, followed by Cisco Systems (75.5), Symantec (74.6), Trend Micro (73.4), SonicWall (71.9), Fortinet (71.5) and WatchGuard (68.2).
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In channel program criteria, McAfee, Santa Clara, Calif., won seven of nine areas and beat its next closest competitor by 2.8 points in two areas: visibility, and margins and rebates.
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McAfee has been doing a great job of providing incentives to channel partners in the form of market development funds and joint marketing efforts, said Jim Hindy, CEO of Entre BTG, Norcross, Ga., a McAfee partner since 2001.
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Hindy also noted that McAfee introduced a program in March to train and certify partners to sell more of its services. "They've really turned the corner and are on their way to being one of the best partners we've ever had," he said.
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McAfee also rated high in reducing channel conflict, which reflects the significant strides the vendor has made in this area, said Andrew Plato, president at Anitian Enterprise Security, a Beaverton, Ore.-based solution provider. "Traditionally, McAfee signed up everyone under the sun and let partners fight it out, but they've weeded out a lot of the competition lately," Plato said.
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McAfee trailed Cisco by 1.4 points in vendor support, which Plato suggested could be due to McAfee's traditional focus on volume partners.
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On technical criteria, McAfee captured three of five areas and beat Cisco and Symantec by 2.9 points in vulnerability/intrusion prevention and management.
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McAfee didn't fare as well in scalability, placing second to Cisco by a 4.3-point margin. "McAfee's products don't tend to scale well," Plato said. "They tend to sell them as a point solution, and because of that, a lot of enterprises that have adopted them have struggled a bit."
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