As part of an aggressive drive to expand channel sales, security vendor McAfee this week will launch a deal registration program for eligible channel partners selling certain high-end products.

The deal registration program applies to some 500 solution providers selling the company's intrusion prevention solution (IPS) and antivirus appliances.

David Roberts, senior vice president of North American channels at McAfee, said that channel partners will receive a 10 percent back-end rebate when they register deals of $25,000 or more.

Of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor's 2,700 partners, some 500 are in the program, all of which are authorized to sell the WebShield antivirus appliances. Only 20 percent of those partners are authorized to sell McAfee's IntruShield, Entercept and Foundstone IPS products.

Despite this exclusivity, solution providers said the deal registration program should help to restore faith in McAfee's commitment to the channel after years of the company selling through direct and closed distribution deals.

"All too often technology becomes mainstream, and too many partners are bidding against each other for the same piece of business," said Edward Smith, director of security solutions at Forsythe Technology, a solution provider in Skokie, Ill. "With deal registration and increased margin levels, resellers are less likely to move competitive alternatives."

Steven Palange, CEO of TLIC Worldwide, a Wakefield, R.I.-based solution provider, agreed, adding that he has seen his company's McAfee sales decline significantly in the past two years, and that all of those sales went to resellers such as CDW and Insight.

Under McAfee's new deal registration system, Palange said he expects the trend to reverse and looks forward to increased revenue on deals that he generates, nurtures and sees to fruition.