Greg Butterfield, Altiris

In the wake of an unprecedented wave of security breaches, systems management has become a major priority. IT organizations are now focused on system management solutions like never before, especially ones that include patch management systems FOR updates. One vendor that has established itself as a major player in systems management is Altiris. In an interview with Editor in Chief Michael Vizard, Altiris CEO Greg Butterfield talks about the impact these security breaches are having on the demand for patch management systems and the overall impact the economy is having on the need for life-cycle management tools.

CRN: What is Altiris' core mission?

BUTTERFIELD: At the highest level, the value proposition we provide is to help companies reduce the overall cost and complexity of managing information technology. More than 80 percent of the cost of computing is tied to the cost to manage the computer throughout its life cycle, whereas a small percent,less than 20 percent,goes to the actual purchase price of the device. We've tried to identify the things that people are doing manually that make up about 80 percent of their cost and we're trying to eliminate or minimize those costs. We've done that by creating what's known as life-cycle management or systems management technologies.

CRN: What technologies constitute life-cycle management?

BUTTERFIELD: We do hardware and software inventory. We have deployment technology that allows you to put an image on a machine very quickly. We can clone a machine or deploy an image on a machine in 10 minutes and you can do one hundred or thousands of machines simultaneously. We have the ability to do incremental software install to keep systems up and running to modify software, to do patch management, to eliminate the problems that come out in software.

There's no perfect piece of software. As a result, vendors provide software updates. We help in that process. We also have remote control technology that allows an IT person to do remote support, which makes them more efficient. We have help-desk technology. We have self-healing technology that helps in keeping the registry in a known stable state in a proactive way to minimize downtime. We have backup software that is somewhat unique in that it allows us to do delta backups for remote mobile users over low-bandwidth lines. And then we have some migration technology for the end of the life cycle. Usually when a person gets a new machine, they're lucky if they get ahold of files that they saved over the past three years. We have the ability to take the entire personality, which means both data and your personal settings, save them and then overlay them on the new machine. ...

CRN: What impact has the recent wave of security breaches had in terms of focusing people's attention on patch management solutions?

BUTTERFIELD: Companies finally seem to be taking patch management seriously and are now doing something about it. We have customers scrambling to install our patch management products to automate patch assessment and deployment before the next wave of worms and viruses exploit the latest vulnerabilities.

CRN: How does the channel fit into your sales model?

BUTTERFIELD: Our delivery mechanism is very channel-friendly and channel-centric. In fact, more than 85 percent of our business goes through a channel model. In a down economy when many companies have struggled, Altiris over the last three years has had more than 200 percent compounded annual growth rate. That's all because we have developed a business model that's based upon the channel. We also have strong partnerships with many of the top systems integrators such as HP Global Services, Getronics, CompuCom [Systems], Unisys and Northrop Grumman in addition to more than 300 Altiris Business Partners. We also have hundreds of other VARs that buy through Ingram Micro. Our VARs, including Business Partners, and systems integrators accounted for 48 percent of revenue last quarter. We are recruiting resellers. But the goal is not to sign up thousands of partners and then be a very small portion of their business. The goal is to select fewer partners and be a substantial portion of their business.

CRN: How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

BUTTERFIELD: Our competitors' value proposition is geared toward the high end and oftentimes it does not include a channel. Our position in the enterprise is that we extend, we enhance and we complement what people already have. We've designed our technology around components, meaning that if you go into an account and they've already implemented some level of systems management, we're not going to walk in and say, 'Rip and replace it.' Because our code is componentized we have the ability to pull out our code that complements what's already in place. We then implement our architecture for free, which then provides for uphill opportunity going forward. People want to deal with fewer vendors, so they would rather have an integrated suite that does all of the life cycle.