Trend Micro empowers channel partners with Tech Labs

New Delhi, February 10, 2009: Trend Micro, Inc. (TSE: 4704), a global leader in Internet content security, has set up three technology support labs (Tech Labs), known as the "Trend Micro Experience Labs" as part of their Affinity Partner program, to help empower its channel partners in India. These labs are being set up in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Says Mr. Amit Nath, Country Manager – India & SAARC, Trend Micro, "Over the last few years, we observed that our channel community partners do not have the requisite infrastructure either to demonstrate our products to prospective customers or train their own internal resources on Trend Micro products. While bigger partners might be able to setup a lab, majority of our partners are so small that they cannot afford to setup a lab on their own. During our need-assessment meetings with various partners, we found that high investment and running costs associated with implementing multiple servers, license and dedicated manpower were key deterrent factors for partners in setting up such Labs."

"We decided to setup Customer/Partner Trend Micro Experience Labs at Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore for the use and benefit of our channel community. These ready-to-use Tech Labs are equipped to let our partners demonstrate the entire Trend Micro portfolio of products to our prospective customers. For their internal training purposes, these Labs provide enterprise class infrastructure for our partners to experience the entire Trend Micro portfolio of products. We also provide hands-on training where each participant gets his own dedicated hardware for learning purpose," adds Mr. Nath.

Furthermore, these Labs also give the partners and customers a real-time simulated environment where they can try and test various scenarios that they might otherwise not be able to do onsite.

The Affinity Partner Program has been thoughtfully designed to offer broad-ranging, tangible benefits to resellers that will help them speed up time-to-market, lower the cost of doing business, and identify newer revenue streams to help broaden their customer base and increase profitability. The program comprises of three levels of membership – AffinityOne, AffinityPlus and Affinity – with different benefits depending on accreditation status. Member partners get access to the new Affinity PartnerWeb, a portal that empowers channel partners with Profile Manager that provides key partner demographic and usage information; Event Manager; eMarketing; online Sales Lead and Opportunity Management resource; Motivation and Incentives; and, Deal and Bid Registration to register sales opportunities and special pricing requests, and to receive Trend Micro support and incentives. Partners also receive higher rebates and attractive margins to increase their sales, and also are able to use Trend Micro products for testing and training in order to sell them effectively.

In terms of technical support, partners receive support ranging from on a 24/7 basis with shared Technical Account Manager(s) access to a toll-free and email support, to having contact 24/7, depending on their accreditation level within the program.

With the introduction of this program, Trend Micro expects a 50% growth in its number of channel partners in India, says Mr. Nath.

Source : Equity Bulls

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