Trend Micro Launches SaaS Offerings For SMB, Midmarket

Trend Micro's new offerings include its Worry-Free Business Security Hosted for small offices, along with InterScan Messaging Hosted Security and Trend Micro's new hosted Web site security service SecureSite.

The new hosted services provide a wider array of security options aimed at SMBs and the midmarket, executives said.

"As their office grows beyond three PCs, [managing security products] becomes harried," said Frank Mong, vice president of marketing for Trend Micro. "They have to manage four or five different expiration dates. Tracking that is near impossible."

Trend Micro's new SMB offering -- Worry-Free Business Security Hosted for small offices -- is aimed at small businesses with 10 or fewer seats. Specifically, Trend Micro hosts the Web security console and updates the products, which allows the customers to easily manage and review security from anywhere in the world without requiring a server.

Trend Micro executives said that the new Worry-Free solution was designed to meet the needs of very small businesses that face the same security threats as larger organizations but don't have access to the same security infrastructure or the resources.

"The small [businesses] don't have a dedicated server. In some cases, they don't even have a server. But they have the same needs as everyone else to protect desktops and laptops," said Dan Woodward, Trend Micro director of marketing, SMB.

Woodward said that often, many small organizations rely on free downloadable security software or the security settings that accompanied the PC or laptop, which generally result in inadequate protection against increasingly sophisticated security threats. The new Worry-Free solution will serve as a springboard for partners to educate and open up conversations about Web security.

"Now we're giving [partners] a reason to go to that customer and say, 'Are you really protected? Do you know if your employees are really protected?' " Woodward said.

On the e-mail side, Trend Micro launched its new hosted antispam solution, InterScan Messaging Hosted Security, which allows partners to centrally manage multiple messaging customers from anywhere in the world via one hosted Web console. Solution providers using Worry-Free Remote manager -- free for all Trend Micro channel partners -- can directly manage the hosted service, as well as have access to the recurring revenue stream generated from customer licensing and renewals.

As part of the comprehensive hosted launch, Trend Micro is releasing a new hosted Web site security service designed for e-commerce but sold through the channel. The new service, Trend Micro SecureSite, is powered by the company's Threat Protection Network, and is designed to protect e-commerce businesses by scanning for malware that threatens Web sites.

For resellers, realtime protection means being able to deploy updates to clients more rapidly while at the same time ensuring the security of remote workers, Woodward said.

Trend Micro executives said that service is created to be a channel play, adding that partners can wrap additional assessment and remediation services around the SecureSite service to their existing business.

Meanwhile, new developments in the company's channel program offer incremental channel reward compensation for partners selling hosted end-point, e-mail or Web site security products. The new Hosted Security for the Channel program also comes with hosted security product trial request lead generation, free hosted security sales and product training, as well as improved renewal management with Worry-Free Remote Manager support for hosted products.

Trend Micro executives maintained that as the economy weakens, many smaller organizations have gravitated toward SaaS solutions to reduce operating costs.

"As those financial metrics go down and to the right, SaaS goes up and to the right. It's growing exactly the opposite because of the customer's need to do more with less," Woodward said. "Our greatest growth in the last sixth months has been in small business. They're generalists, they're not security experts, but they need the same exact protection as the large organizations."