Network Associates Brings Hosted Virus Scanning to Channel

The company's McAfee Security division has begun piloting a version of its VirusScan ASAP managed scanning service that will let solution providers integrate and brand their own versions of the virus scanning service into portals hosted for their customers. The new service, called the Reseller Management Console, will be rolled out this fall.

Unlike ASAP, McAfee's own hosted service that corporations can subscribe to directly, RMS will be hosted at distributors' sites, and resellers will be able to configure antivirus updates for their customers that log into their hosting providers for other portal services, said Michael Menegay, senior vice president, channels North America for Network Associates. Menegay outlined plans for the new service at the Breakaway XCchange conference here. Menegay said he expects 1,000 resellers to be offering the service within the next 12 months. "We want to sell ASaP to the mass market," Menegay said.

The service will be hosted at distributors sites. Currently 12 resellers are testing the service. McAfee has signed on three distributors, Ingram Micro, Merisel and Tech Data. Each reseller will have a console that links into its distributor's network operations center and can set up profiles for any size account. While the initial focus will be on virus scanning, Menegay said this is the beginning of a portfolio of new services. Over time, he expects to expand other managed services to the portfolio such as intrusion detection and firewall management.