Nice article in CRN this week about the progress of Microsoft's security products channel business:
Six months after unveiling its Security Solutions competency and a $50 million dollar investment in marketing, sales and training to support its Forefront security product line, Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) says the moves are paying dividends. More than 1,100 partners have joined Security Solutions competency since Microsoft unveiled it last July at its Worldwide Partner Conference, making it the fastest growing of Microsoft's 13 competencies, says Mark Hassall, marketing director for security and access partners at Microsoft.
There's more...
“Did you know that there is only one Windows Server 2003 running Microsoft.com today? The rest have all been upgraded to Windows Server 2008. There’s a funny video and more about the “Lone Server” story from the Windows Server crew here: www.loneserver.com”
Microsoft has been placed in the Challengers Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms report. Gartner finds that “Point products for antivirus, anti-spyware, personal firewalls and host-based intrusion prevention (HIPS) are rapidly being replaced by suites with a centralized and extensible management framework.”
Launched in June 2007, Microsoft’s Forefront Client Security provides virus and spyware protection for business desktops, laptops, and server operating systems.
To learn about how Forefront client Security is placed in this Magic Quadrant and read the full Gartner report visit: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx
For more information on Forefront Client Security, visit www.microsoft.com/forefront/clientsecurity
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted December 2007 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
IDC and Microsoft released, today, a study that shows that the Microsoft Partner Program is enabling security partners to be more successful compared to programs from other vendors. The study finds that partners participating in Microsoft’s SSA and SSC programs experience over one-third higher profit margins, three times more revenue growth, one to four points lower sales and marketing overheads, and are getting four to five times more customers.
The study, commissioned by Microsoft, attributes partners’ success to Partner Program including the investments and enhancements Microsoft made to its partner ecosystem in July 2007, including a $50 million+ investment in sales, marketing, and training and the SCC program.
Microsoft also announced that, to date, over 6,000 partners have joined its SSA program, and the company is making additional enhancements to the SCC program.
The complete IDC study is available here.
For more on the results of the study and the new program enhancements, visit www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/jan08/01-14securitypartners.mspx.
For more on the security partner ecosystem enhancements announced at WPC in July 2007, visit http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/jul07/07-11hassallqa.mspx.