McAfee confirms Infosec no-show

Vendor to plough its marketing cash into more focused events

Infosecurity Europe 2013 will be without one of the industry's two big guns after McAfee confirmed that it will not be attending.

McAfee and arch-rival Symantec have traditionally used the UK and Europe's largest IT security show as a chest-beating contest, with each often investing in top pitches and flashy stands.

But with the bill for a top pitch and associated build costs estimated to stand at anywhere up to £200,000, the Intel-owned vendor has opted to spend its marketing cash elsewhere this time around.

In November, McAfee schmoozed top prospects at an event held at Chelsea football club that included keynote speeches from the likes of former MI5 director general Stella Rimington.

These more targeted events will now be the order of the day, McAfee confirmed in a statement to CRN.

"McAfee will not be attending Infosecurity Europe 2013 as we will instead be focusing on specific and targeted activity directly, and through our channel," said Ross Allen, vice president for UK, Ireland at McAfee,

"At McAfee we are committed to our customers, partners and the marketplace in general, and will continue to work closely with them to protect against the evolving threat landscape with a ‘Security Connected' approach in this targeted fashion."

Cris Pikes, director of McAfee partner Sysec, welcomed the change in tack.

"We 100 per cent support its decision and feel that by using a targeted marketing approach, the value of the engagement with customers is of a much higher and more focused calibre," he said.

Another McAfee partner, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "McAfee is getting a lot more focused on how they spend their dollars, which is what everyone should be doing."

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of Wick Hill, said the distributor had already booked his stand for 2014.

"I'm a bit surprised at [McAfee not attending] - Infosec is the top European security show and we certainly see a lot of business from attending," he said.

Infosec, which recently moved to ban "booth babes" at next month's event, claims to have drawn in over 12,000 visitors at last year's show.