Intel Security Execs: Time To Get Onboard With The New Strategy

With a new strategy and new products in its grasp, Intel Security executives said it is time for the company to get the go-to-market engine going, and challenged its partners to get onboard with the new vision.

"I hope you guys realize that we are a new company," Ken McCray, head of channel sales and operations for the Americas, told 200 partners in the audience Wednesday at its Partner Summit in Boca Raton, Fla. "This is a new opportunity and we are here now. … I want to walk forward with [partners] with me. The only way we will be successful is together."

The new strategy, unveiled at the company's Focus event last fall, centered on providing solutions and security outcomes for the full threat-defense life cycle -- from protection to detection and correction.

[Related: Q&A: Intel Security Head Updates On New Strategy And How It Fits Into Intel Reorganization]

That shift in strategy, including the divestiture of multiple product lines, has allowed Intel Security to "double down" on investments in other areas, such as engineering, innovation and marketing, said Bill McCalister, vice president of Americas sales. He said partners can expect to see "more innovation from Intel Security than you’ve seen in the last several years" coming in the second half of this year.

Partners CRN spoke to at the event praised the new steps being taken by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Security, as they provide more tangible movement toward the strategy revealed in the fall.

That push is starting to drive bookings growth for some of the company's solutions, McCalister said, calling the most recent quarter a "record" quarter. Total bookings for Intel Security were up 12 percent year over year, with Advanced Threat Defense up 219 percent year over year, Threat Intelligence Exchange up 180 percent year over year, Web up 33 percent year over year, server up 33 percent year over year, data protection up 30 percent year over year, and client up 7 percent year over year, the company shared on stage.

The priorities going forward will be to add new customer logos, particularly going after the Global 2000, investing in new technology, driving the strategic relevancy of Intel Security and aiming for double-digit growth, McCalister said.

"It's all about adding up the collective capabilities of Intel Security and our partners. It all about us working together and it's all about accelerating double-digit growth," McCalister said.

From a technology perspective, Raja Patel, vice president and general manager of corporate products, said there is a singular focus on developing solutions for the threat defense life cycle. In particular, there will be a focus on protection, detection and correction technologies that work together, an architecture to drive velocity and effectiveness, and user experience, he said.

Patel teased out some of the products coming from Intel Security in the latter half of the year: Endpoint 10.2, with a focus on dynamic application containment; DLP 10.0, with new features around policy unification and a scalable distributed cloud; MOVE 4.0, with broader visibility capabilities into workflows on the server side; and MAR 2.0, which will see added automation capabilities and analysis in the cloud.

Technical priorities overall in 2016 include neutralizing emerging threats, safeguarding vital data, fortifying critical environments and intelligence security operations, Patel said.

Intel will be backing up the technology and sales push with new marketing initiatives, said Allison Cerra, vice president and head of marketing. The three-pronged marketing strategy will focus on leveraging thought leadership, creating demand generation and developing marketing skills, she said.

McCray challenged the partners in the audience to take advantage of the new initiatives being offered around marketing, solutions selling and technology. If partners execute on those action items, McCray said, "we will all win."

"I've been in this business a long time," McCray said. "I understand the channel. … I'm here to challenge my team, challenge you and I'm here to move the business forward."