If you think of McDonalds, you smell fast food, and mention the name McAfee, you feel secure. These big ‘M’s enjoy universal recognition for their services. No wonder that the global security firm McAfee’s (NYSE: MFE) top ten predictions for security threats announced during the New Year time is greatly looked forward to by the tech community. For its 2008 predictions the $1.3 billion rich firm had its say on malware, botnets, instant malware, trojans, adware, phishers, parasitic crimeware, vishing, and phreaking. Cyber crime threats are not exclusive to any one country, but are a rampant worldwide menace. Hence by seeking to provide a counter-active balm, McAfee is present at locations worldwide to address consumer or enterprise security issues and protect customer investments.

McAfee India
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, McAfee has spread and planted its roots to Bangalore as McAfee India. Sridhar Jayanthi, Head of the Indian operations of the company, comments, “McAfee India Center is home to about 1000 employees focused on R&D, customer support, and other business critical functions. The India Center, established in 2002, works closely with its customers globally, in the entire product development lifecycle.” The investment here is over $80 million and the India facility is the largest development center for McAfee worldwide. Its wide range of products empowers home users, businesses, the public sector, and service providers with the ability to block attacks, prevent disruptions, and continuously track and improve their security. McAfee is also keen on the usage of its information security products in the Manufacturing and Pharma sectors, which are growing rapidly, to cater to protecting critical data leakage – through e-mail, mobile, or any other form of communication.

Enterprises can Breathe Easy
“An innovation exchange program at McAfee which is actually a panel consisting of six members comprising of senior management, senior engineers, and product managers brainstorm on how technology can be used to make the customers’ enterprise systems more secure,” shares Pravat Lall, Director of Engineering.

The path to valuable innovation at McAfee is nurtured in a framework aptly named as ‘Visual Flywheel’. The six-pronged approach towards innovation consists of exercises in product innovation, execution excellence, organization culture, operation excellence, rewards and recognition, and development and learning. The leaders of these initiatives are encouraged to take a proactive approach where they set their own goals and measure themselves against themselves and their peers with the latter acting as the benchmark. “How to foster, promote, and sustain innovation is the key challenge for managers at McAfee,” mentions Lall.