CA channel coins it

Computer Associates International launched its eTrust Secure Content Manager (SCM) suite of products today through distributor Drive Control Corporation, assuring resellers there is money to be made there, and that it would not bypass the channel by going straight to customers.

To end-users, whose pockets are affected by margins of up to 30%, CA offers compelling value with an end-to-end solution, says Tony da Costa, security consultant, CA South Africa.

Matthew Barker, field partner manager, CA SA, explains the channel is crucial to the company as there aren`t enough CA staff to service all customer sites. With the imminent arrival of Gary Lawrence as country manager, a renewed focus on the channel this year will ensure that most of the 120 staff employed by CA will focus on supporting the channel, he adds.

At today`s launch event, CA armed resellers with "sales triggers" and a resource kit outlining the value of SCM, featuring sobering statistics and a set of legal and regulatory requirements incumbent upon companies today.

Danny Illic, CA technology strategist, says the regulations in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, management responsibilities in the King 2 report and the American ISO 17799 standard are all important guidelines, recommendations and provisions today.

Additionally, he cautions, the FBI published figures showing fraud doubled between the latter half of 2002 and the first half of 2003. Money laundering, employee and consumer mischief, disasters and more add up to the risks faced by companies today. If an end-user still isn`t convinced, other statistics show that 30% of ex-employees still have IT accounts at their previous place of employment, AOL users receive up to 15 000 items of spam per year, and among organisations polled by the FBI, 80% report inside abuse of network resources.

To address these, CA`s eTrust brand of security products address the areas of identity management, access, network security, security management, operational security, disaster recovery, cryptography as well as legal and ethical compliance. Specific products include e-mail security, spam filtering, Web security, URL blocking, anti-virus and malicious code defence.

CA further sells its products` advantages on the basis of "one price for SCM, one licence, one support organisation, two separate virus engines packaged into one, a management console allowing 25 kinds of reports, and user intervention into actions taken on receiving spam and inappropriate content".