trend micro SaaS security online backup

As you may have heard, Trend Micro has hired Lenovo veteran Stephen Mungall as VP U.S. Channel Sales. I spoke with Mungall and Trend Micro VP of U.S. Marketing Dan Woodward this morning. Much of our conversation focused on Trend Micro’s continued investment in SaaS-, cloud- and virtualization-related solutions for channel partners serving the SMB space. The overall strategy is dubbed Trend 2.0.

Here Comes Online Backup

Dig a bit deeper into the strategy, and you’ll learn that Trend Micro plans to promote its recent Humyo acquisition across the IT channel. At first glance, Humyo is a consumer-centric online storage provider in Europe. But Woodward confirms Trend Micro’s strategy targets “the global market.”

During our chat Woodward said:

Woodward predicts Trend Micro will connect the dots between storage, data protection and security for MSPs by late 2010 or early 2011. In the meantime, new U.S. Channel Chief Stephen Mungall plans to spend extensive time “listening to partners” to make sure Trend Micro is making the proper investments in channel support and education, so that MSPs can continue to pursue new recurring revenue and services opportunities.

Competitive Landscape

Trend Micro certainly faces fierce competition. In recent weeks, a range of security and storage companies have launched MSP- and service provider-centric pricing options for their channel partners. The efforts include:

Familiar Territory

Still, Trend Micro has an established track record with service provider licensing. True believers include Arlin Sorensen, founder of HTG Peer Groups. Sorensen’s own business leverages Trend Micro’s software to manage more than 1,000 secure customer endpoints.

TJ Alldridge, an SMB product manager at Trend Micro, describes the service provider licensing model in this MSPmentor FastChat Video:

Remaining Challenges

Of course, connecting the dots between the security market and online backup/business continuity isn’t easy. We’ll be watching to see how Trend Micro’s channel team connects the dots between Trend’s organic product lines and the recently acquired Humyo services.

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