McAfee is formally hoisting resellers into the hosted services game with a Managed Service Partner programme for its security software and services.

The utility style monthly-billed subscription to be sold via distributors includes protection for endpoints, servers/ networks, virtual environment and mobile devices – software already sold as a service.

Managed services market drivers are fairly straightforward: "reduced IT complexity and lower costs", said Gavin Struthers, senior veep of worldwide channel at McAfee.

The software-as-a-service can be overseen centrally through McAfee's ePolicy Orchestrator or via the SaaS management console, a way of targeting resource-light SMEs, the firm said.

Research from AMI Partners estimates the small-and-medium biz segment of the worldwide security solutions market is worth about $5.1bn and is forecast to expand on a compound annual growth rate of 9 per cent a year.

In recent weeks McAfee has folded all its partner programmes into one global framework as it tries to inject some consistency into dealing with resellers and integrators.

Struthers does not expect the MSP scheme to take the world by storm in its first year of life, as he previously told The Channel, but said that for the time being it would help classic on-premise dealers widen their net. ®