Retail giant Musgrave SuperValu-Centra is to deploy McAfee ASAP antivirus throughout its network of 650 convenience stories North and South in a three-year, six-figure deal with Cork-based reseller QCL Technologies.
Making the announcement, the jubilant reseller claimed it had landed the largest single McAfee deal ever in Ireland, running to a total of 3,500 licences. The software has already been rolled out to the majority of the retail outlets by QCL, which has a long-established contract with Musgrave for the maintenance and support of its entire IT platform, including all of its PCs and servers and accompanying software.
Musgrave SuperValu-Centra is the retail franchise division of Musgrave Group, which serves the Irish grocery market through its SuperValu and Centra brands. There are more than 650 independently owned such stores throughout Ireland.
Musgrave’s decision to choose McAfee was driven by the growing use of the internet within the retail network. In the past two years, most of its outlets in the State have connected to the internet by DSL or, where that has been unavailable, ISDN. In addition, DSL is going to be rolled out to the 110 or so stores in Northern Ireland next year.
“It was important for us to have a solution that provided the best-possible protection against viruses and other online security threats, particularly with increasing usage of always-on broadband access, but also dial-up systems, which retail outlets continue to use,” explained Juliana Demery, retail IT services manager, Musgrave SuperValu Centra.
Bernie Dunne, sales manager at QCL, told siliconrepublic.com that the McAfee solution is “zero maintenance” in that once the system is installed, virus updates are downloaded automatically from the internet. “It means that for the next three years Musgrave doesn’t need to worry about virus protection,” she said.
The antivirus software was supplied to QCL by Dublin-based Noxs, McAfee’s distributor in Ireland.
By Brian Skelly
Pictured at the announcement of the antivirus deal were, from left: Jack Casey, managing director, QCL Technologies; Juliana Demery, retail IT services manager, Musgrave SuperValu Centra; Bernie Dunne, sales manager, QCL technologies; and Fergal Murray, Noxs Ireland.
