McAfee is to unwrap a hosted channel programme in Q3, 2012, the IT security vendor told a press briefing in Marbella today.

McAfee's global channel boss Gavin Struthers said the company currently works with Managed Services Providers on a bespoke basis; the new programme is intended to bring all hosted channel initiatives under one standard.

So how much of McAfee's security portfolio is to be made available to cloud resellers? Struthers declined to talk specifics in advance of the launch, but he acknowledged that the company's entire range is currently available through resellers on a hosted basis.

The host with the most

The MSP programme is described by one insider as the worst kept secret in the company, so Struthers won't mind us repeating one morsel that he let slip, namely that the MSP programme incorporates monthly utility-style billing and will be "distribution-led".

Disties get a chance, in other words, to report revenues from an op-ex (operational expenditure) agency model, in contrast with their usual heavy lifting, capital expenditure-fulfilling run of fare. It will be interesting to see how long that two tier model lasts.

Repeat after me. The Cloud is your friend

McAfee does not expect significant revenues from the managed services provider programme in its first year, according to Struthers.

But Cloud is the way the market is going and resellers can "see the writing on the wall" for their traditional ways of selling software. "We have to help them transition," he says. Expect an education drive to accompany the MSP programme.®