Focus 2011: Intel to make its presence felt at McAfee conference

LAS VEGAS: McAfee is set to kick off its 2011 Focus customer conference in Las Vegas under new leadership and a greater sense of connection with parent company Intel.

With the news of Intel's $8.5bn purchase of McAfee still fresh, last year's conference raised more questions about the future of McAfee under Intel than answers.

This year's event, however, should begin to flesh out how Intel will be integrating McAfee into its strategy and what role the chip maker may play in the evolution of the security market.

First and foremost, the show will reflect a change in McAfee at the highest level. Long-time chief executive Dave DeWalt resigned his post with the company in July, handing over the reigns to the team of Todd Gebhart and Michael DeCesare. The duo will report to Intel senior vice president and group general manager Renee James.

While the exit of DeWalt came as little surprise to industry analysts, who noted that such changes are common following an acquisition, the move also raised questions about the future of McAfee as a security vendor.

Thus far, Intel has worked to maintain its distance, treating McAfee as a separate subsidiary and allowing the firm to develop its own products. The past year has, however, seen the rise of new partnership projects between the two firms.

The companies have combined on a number of projects, including cloud security efforts and processor-based security protections. However, many questions remain as to what role McAfee will play in Intel's security strategy and to what extent its tools will be embedded in Intel hardware.

Last month, Intel chief Paul Otellini was joined by McAfee's Candice Worley on stage at the Intel Developer Forum to unveil the company's DeepSAFE security protections for proventing rootkit attacks.