Computer Associates Ups the Ante

To say Computer Associates had a rough summer would be an understatement. The Islandia, N.Y.-based software company, one of the largest in the world, has been racked with negative headlines surrounding a major accounting scandal and the departure of its former chief executive, Sanjay Kumar, who was indicted in September on charges of securities fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice for his alleged role in the scandal. At the same time, CA itself settled with authorities by paying a $225 million fine to avoid criminal prosecution. All in all, it was the darkest episode in the software company's history.

However, CA has found a powerful elixir to combat its recent ills. Its magic potion? Distribution. Perhaps no vendor has done more with distributors this year than CA. The software maker recently announced two new and/or expanded distribution agreements, including a comprehensive alliance with Access Distribution that includes all of the software company's enterprise product lines.

The enterprise distributor, formerly known as GE Access, announced that it will begin carrying CA's eTrust security management, BrightStor storage management and Unicenter operations management software, to authorized Enterprise Solution partners in the United States. The software company's products will be managed under Access Distribution's Enterprise Solutions Group, which covers networking, storage and security solutions that complement the Sun Microsystems platform--the distributor's biggest vendor.

"We're excited about the potential for this alliance, and we see CA becoming one of our top vendors right out of the gate," says Grant Hunter, vice president of Access Distribution's Enterprise Solutions Group. "The Unicenter product line, in particular, fits perfectly with our Sun business. There's a logical fit between the two."

Hunter says the distributor is looking at possible joint marketing and training opportunities with Sun and CA concerning Unicenter on the computer maker's machines. Of the three product lines, however, Hunter says eTrust may make the biggest impact early on because of the rising interest in enterprise security solutions. Access Distribution has been working steadily on increasing its security offering, adding McAfee and F5 Networks to its line card.

BrightStor is, perhaps, the most interesting addition for the distributor because CA's storage management software competes with Veritas, another top vendor for the Westminster, Colo.-based company. Hunter says there may be some overlap between CA and Veritas in the storage software market, but thinks there is plenty of room for BrightStor to win new business without interfering with Veritas' accounts.

"We don't expect it to cause much friction with Veritas," Hunter said. "We've talked with [Veritas channel vice president] Mike Sotnick about this agreement, and Veritas will continue to be one of our top vendors."

In addition to Access Distribution, CA expanded its existing agreement with Ingram Micro by introducing CA's eTrust Vulnerability Manager r8 to the broadline distributor. The new product--a rack-mountable security management appliance--complements Ingram Micro's CA portfolio, which includes CA storage management, security management and network/desktop management solutions. The appliance combines vulnerability assessment, automated patch and configuration management, and compliance analysis in one box.

"One of the reasons we've gotten together with Ingram Micro is that there are a number of resellers that have never worked with CA when it comes to security," says George Kafkarkou, CA's current senior vice president of worldwide channel operations, who will be moving on within the company next year to oversee its retail/consumer, OEM and SMB sales channels. "We're looking to boost our market share and also raise our visibility as a security company in the channel."

Kafkarkou says eTrust Vulnerability Manager r8 is designed to be a horizontal solution for SMB-focused solution providers. Thus, members of Ingram Micro's VentureTech Network, the distributor's exclusive group of more than 300 SMB solution providers, will get special rebate offers and other incentives.

CA also has expanded its alliance with Arrow. The enterprise distributor began carrying CA's Unicenter product line and increased its CA offering from eTrust and BrightStor enterprise products.

Previously pegged as a channel-unfriendly company in the past, CA has made gains with the channel. But why is CA in such high demand with distributors? Despite the company's turbulent summer, Unicenter is still a strong enterprise management product. And with the growth in the storage and security technology market, CA's BrightStor and eTrust product families are well-positioned for growth. With Ingram Micro, CA can provide its SMB-level products to a wide range of resellers, while also concentrating on the upper end of the market with enterprise distributors Arrow and Access Distribution, thus, preparing for a better 2005.