Network Associates, Merisel Ink Deal

Under the agreement, El Segundo, Calif.-based Merisel will host the managed antivirus service and offer it to its solution providers.

Michael Menegay, vice president of channels and alliances for McAfee, said the distribution agreement will help Network Associates' McAfee division expand its reach into the small- and midsize-business market.

"With Merisel taking on the hosting for this service, we have the ability to scale our opportunities into their reseller base," Menegay said.

Merisel already distributes McAfee antivirus software. Hosting the software as a service that resellers can offer to their customers is a natural fit for the distributor, said Traci Barnett, vice president of sales and marketing at Merisel.

"We'll be able to scale this quickly," she said.

More than half of Merisel's distribution business is in the security market, she said.

Don DeMaderios, senior manager of marketing and vendor relations at Merisel, said Merisel's hosting of the service will open opportunities to solution providers who don't have the capability to host the service themselves.

Menegay said the deal with Merisel shows Network Associates' commitment to the distribution channel. "We're showing the value we believe the distribution channel has to growing Network Associates' business," he said.

Menegay also said that as of Jan. 1, Santa Clara-based McAfee committed 100 percent of its business to the channel in accounts of 1,500 nodes and below.