STRATEGIES

September 13, 2000

On other pages:
2: Remotely Managed Security Services
3: Sharing The Wealth With Channel Partners

Profile by Lisa Phifer,
VP Core Competence, Inc.

Enterprise awareness — even paranoia — regarding Internet security threats has created a fast-expanding market for network security products and services. Industry veteran Network Associates Inc was the first vendor in the sector to realize the potential for delivering security products over the Internet as a service. NAI has launched a pair of application service providers: McAfee.com and myCIO.com. While McAfee.com focuses on retail sales to the end user, myCIO.com targets the business market, particularly small to medium-size enterprises.

The myCIO.com Approach

myCIO.com was launched this past January. "We are a wholly-owned subsidiary of NAI with business units focused on enterprise firewall services and virus protection, based upon best-of-breed products that we license from Network Associates," explained Ron Kopeck, VP of Sales and Marketing. The products come from NAI's PGP Technologies and McAfee Software divisions. "Basically, we 'webify' these products to make them accessible from a browser. We then add reporting capabilities that enable corrective actions to be taken."

MyCIO.com provides managed service capabilities, run out of a security operations center (SOC) located in Phoenix. From the SOC, myCIO.com can configure firewall managed services, scan for vulnerabilities, plan changes administered by channel partners, and provide on-going service monitoring. "Customers can either have us run scans and email them the report, or they can run the scan themselves," said Kopeck. "All of our services are available from a desktop browser, 24 hours a day."

Unlike consumer services that are designed to draw visitors to the McAfee.com website, myCIO.com takes a hands-off approach that better satisfies the enterprise market. "You don't have to visit myCIO.com's website to make sure your anti-virus files are up-to-date," said Kopeck. "Our agent wakes up and automatically connects to our hosted facility at Exodus to check for updates. Even when I travel, an agent on my laptop wakes up when I connect to the Internet — I see a splash screen that tells me what the agent is doing, but it's a totally hands-off process."

MyCIO.com managed services fall into two categories: managed security and managed anti-virus.

Managed Anti-Virus Services

The anti-virus duo VirusScreen ASaP and VirusScan ASaP are subscription services designed to protect the enterprise from Internet-borne viruses. With VirusScan ASaP, software is downloaded to the desktop, where it is routinely monitored and automatically updated. With VirusScreen ASaP, enterprise mail is diverted to myCIO.com's server to be screened, quarantined, or disinfected before reaching the customer's mail server. Web-based reports provide an enterprise-wide view of virus activity, desktop coverage, and outbreak trends for both services.

Price is based upon number of managed desktops or mailboxes, subscription length, and service level. For example, a one-year/50 desktop subscription to VirusScan ASaP Bronze Service runs $2082 ($3.47 per desktop per month). A one-year/50 mailbox subscription to VirusScreen Bronze Service runs $1008. Real-time price quotes for any service parameter combo are readily available from myCIO.com's website.

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