The Resurgence of CA

CA's newly formed threat management security unit recently inked a strategic pact with India outsourcing giant HCL. The deal effectively hands over all development, research and quality assurance of CA threat management security products to HCL. CA will retain sales and marketing responsibilities for the offerings. Among the products covered are CA antivirus, antispyware, antispam, firewall, integrated threat manager (ITM), host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS) and secure content manager (SCM).

Under the terms of the pact, 370 CA employees, including developers, quality assurance and technical support, will be transferred to India-based HCL's balance sheet. The employees, however, will not have to move to India. CA would not break out the annual savings from the deal, which is expected to be finalized by the end of the year. The final terms of the deal remain to be worked out.

The deal, however, does include an unusual provision that ties the annual payout to HCL to revenue growth at the $100-million-plus CA threat management business organization, which was formed only a month ago. The new unit is headed by 26-year CA veteran and former CA Channel Chief George Kafkarkou, who is widely respected by CA partners for his proactive channel commitment and ability to establish tight solution provider relationships.

Kafkarkou, senior vice president and general manager of the threat management business, said it would be foolhardy to view the HCL pact as an outsourcing deal. Rather, it represents a new aggressive investment to drive market-share gains for CA and its security channel partners.

"The way our partner HCL makes money is based on our revenues," Kafkarkou said. "HCL has as much skin in the game as we do. That is why this is a win-win. This is not an outsourcing deal. This is a strategic relationship." He characterized the deal as a breakthrough in the industry where such pacts are usually driven by a cost-cutting mentality.

Next: The Future Of The Threat Management Business Unit