Symantec Partner Engage: Where's Julie Parrish?

The VAR Guy intends to keep a close eye on Symantec Partner Engage — a channel event scheduled for Oct. 15 to 17 in Washington, D.C. The conference is an ideal setting for Symantec to break bread with any partners that are worried about the company’s channel commitment. However, here’s something curious: Julie Parrish, VP of Symantec’s Global Channel Office, is not listed as a guest speaker on the agenda.

Of course, this could be nothing more than Parrish having a scheduling conflict or The VAR Guy not having all of his facts straight. Our resident blogger has reached out to Symantec to see whether Parrish plans to attend the conference.

To be sure, Parrish has had her share of channel stress in recent months. Back in July 2008, comments attributed to Symantec COO Enrique Salem appeared to conflict with Parrish’s earlier statements to channel partners.

Parrish spent hours on the phone speaking to reporters, clarifying Symantec’s channel commitment and assuring the media that Symantec was not trying to steal business from its channel partners.

In the Spotlight

For the record, Salem is on the agenda for Partner Engage — as are:

That’s an impressive line-up of Symantec’s executive, channel and product-focused folks. But The VAR Guy has to concede: He’s scratching his head, wondering why Parrish isn’t on the agenda.

The last time our resident blogger spotted Parrish, she was quoted in a mid-September press release that described ongoing work between Symantec and VMware. As soon as he hears from Symantec regarding Parrish’s status for Partner Engage, The VAR Guy will post an update here.

The Bigger Message

Of course, Symantec Partner Engage doesn’t focus on a single person. Rather, it’s an opportune time for Symantec to meet closely with solutions providers — especially as those partners are developing their business strategies and priorities for 2009.

In particular, The VAR Guy hopes to hear more about Symantec’s software as a service (SaaS) strategy — including the Symantec Protection Network (SPN). Launced in early 2008, SPN initially supports on-demand storage services. SPN recently gained remote access capabilities, and on-demand security services are expected to arrive in 2009 or so, The VAR Guy hears.

The VAR Guy is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to his newsletter, RSS and Twitter feed.