CA Sets Sights On White-Box Makers

"We are going to go after the top [white-box builders with the combination of our backup/recovery [BrightStor ARCserve product and our antivirus product [eTrust InoculateIT in an OEM scenario and [will allow them to bundle that in their solutions," said Mark Milford, CA's senior vice president and general manager of North American channels. "The opportunity is tens of millions of dollars a year," he said.

CA is finalizing the details of the program, which will be brought to market through distribution partners, Milford said.

In a tight market, it may be a hard sell for CA to entice systems builders to invest resources into training for new technology or marketing new brands, one solution provider said.

The Islandia-based vendor may have a difficult time pitting its tape-backup products against competing solution from vendors such as Seagate or Hewlett-Packard, said JoAnn Evans, vice president of Net/Works, a white-box manufacturer based in Minneapolis.

CA also may face some competition on the antivirus front, she said.

"I'm a huge fan of [Symantec's Norton AntiVirus," Evans said. "I would have a hard time switching over to something else. It would be hard for me . . . just because of [having to train all the guys to work on a new product. There's going to have to be a training period," she said.

CA plans to offer white-box builders a scaled-down version of ARCserve and a full version of InoculateIT, Milford said.

The scaled-down version of ARCserve is aimed at opening the door for white-box builders to later sell a full-blown version of the vendor's backup software, Milford said.

"We can scale back the functionality and footprint and give them a decent margin," Milford said. "The secret is to have an aftermarket program to upgrade [customers."

EDWARD F. MOLTZEN contributed to this story.