Symantec seeks more VARs after Veritas deal

Security giant Symantec will increase its distributor and reseller numbers

Security giant Symantec will increase its distributor and reseller numbers following the completion of its acquisition of storage vendor Veritas last month.

Symantec initially announced the $13.5bn deal in December (CRN, 20 December) and, while Symantec is exclusively channel focused, it said Veritas currently generates approximately 80 per cent of sales through reseller partners.

At a central London conference last week, Lindsey Armstrong, EMEA vice president at Symantec, said she expected to make a number of expansion changes to its European channel operations.

“Post-acquisition, distributors for Veritas and Symantec will remain the same, but numbers will also hopefully expand. The bulk of our expansion will come from the channel, though, because we require more as well as different channel partners to take our new products to market,” she said.

The vendor said that both new and existing partners can expect “increased market opportunities” and “market differentials” from the combination of the two firms, as well as an “increased services opportunity” following its expansion into the storage sector.

“In the next year we plan to introduce new partner benefits, such as a channel programme allowing partners to bring Symantec and Veritas products together. We will be the first vendor to go to market with a combined security and storage product,” added Armstrong.

Graham Titterington, principal analyst at Ovum, said: “Increasing its channel network is a sound move and consistent with its main policy.

It will need more distributors and resellers if it is to move into the business space because that is the channel’s sweet spot.”

Symantec recently reported a 26 per cent turnover increase to $700m for its first quarter of 2006, but has since been forced to cut its full-year turnover estimate to $5.1bn from a previous forecast of $5.3bn.