McAfee drops itX to focus on Ingram and Westcon

McAfee has dropped itX as a business-grade distribution partner in Australian as it rationalises its distributors globally.

Two distributors in Australia, including itX and TPP Group were dropped in the shake up while Ingram Micro and Westcon will carry on their partnerships. 

Queensland-based Manaccom will continue its exclusive deal to distribute McAfee's consumer grade products.

itX general manager Greg Newham told CRN that the McAfee partnership came to be following McAfee's acquisition of Secure Computing some 18 months ago. 

"It was a fairly small practice here," he said. 

Gavin Struthers, APAC channel director for McAfee told CRN that "McAfee's broad portfolio is now open to Ingram Micro and Westcon".

"We had a couple of distributors that we had on board from acquisitions. We went to the market at the end of last year and looked at how our distributors can add value to us.

He said Ingram Micro is a "strong global partner" but there was no guarantee the distribution giant would be retained before the review.

"They had to stack up like everyone else," he said.

Struthers said McAfee will focus on strengthening its mid-market channel offerings.

"In particular we see the value that the disties can bring in developing our mid market business.

"There's a broad set of mid-market partners that we probably need to bring into the fold. [We need to] get them enabled in our broader portfolio, to expose them to that and train them."

The company has appointed a new distribution manager, Sam Laverty and has grown its channel team.

McAfee will sit within Ingram Micro's Enterprise Technology Group.

McAfee enterprise line includes system security, data protection, risk and compliance, network defense (formerly network security, and web and email security (formerly Secure Computing).