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McAfee is extending its program to target small and midsize businesses with a partnership with Covad Communications Group, an integrated voice and data communications provider.
Covad can now bundle McAfee Total Protection for Small Business services with its broadband products. The goal, officials at both companies said, is to provide small-business customers with an affordable answer to their security needs and comes on the heels of Covads introduction of enhanced e-mail and Web hosting services for SMBs.
McAfee Total Protection for Small Business is an all-in-one service that includes anti-virus and anti-spyware protection and manages updates automatically to protect desktops and servers against emerging threats.
The partnership is a continuation of a larger SMB-focused strategy for both companies. Earlier this year, officials with McAfee, of Santa Clara, Calif., said they were going to key in on midmarket businesses and that they had built up the companys sales force specifically to target that end of the market.
Read more about McAfee making a push for midsize businesses.
“At McAfee, were focused on growing our Total Protection Solutions to expand our reach in the underserved small-business market, and our partnership with Covad is a key part of that strategy,” said Lillian Wai, senior product marketing manager of McAfees small and midsize business.
Michael Doherty, vice president of corporate communications at San Jose, Calif.-based Covad, said his company has been looking for a way to add value on top of its broadband services so SMBs can buy their access and applications together.
“Once we got to work on that strategy, we decided, based on market research and our customers feedback, that security services are most in demand to be purchased alongside broadband,” he said. “With that in mind, McAfee was the obvious choice to partner with, and we were fortunate that this fits in with their efforts to target small businesses.”
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