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On November 9th, there was a nasty surprise for Avira’s channel partners. The German security specialist has informed you by email of the imminent termination of the B2B business and the channel partner department. Partners can still activate their licenses until December 31, 2020. However, all partner contracts will also be terminated on the same date, as Avira writes. From January 1, 2022, all licenses will lose their functionality, regardless of the term originally set. The following products are affected:
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Avira Antivirus Pro Business Edition
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Avira Antivirus for Server
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Avira Antivirus for Endpoint
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Avira Antivirus for Small Business
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Avira Exchange Security
Avira has confirmed these changes to “heise.de”. Customers will receive a refund for licenses that now expire earlier than expected. “For customers and / or partners with licenses that extend beyond the service end date, there is the option to receive refunds by migrating to Avira Prime or by refunding money,” he says. The decision to phase out enterprise solutions was made in 2019 and has been ongoing ever since. In the future, Avira would like to focus on end customers and OEM solutions. Furthermore, the security firm points out to heise.de that the termination of the B2B business has no connection with the acquisition by Investicorp Technology Partners in April 2020.
What it means for channel partners
Hans Peter Plüss, managing director of EP: Plüss and current channel partner of Avira, is amazed by the sudden end of the B2B business. The specialist dealer has already equipped all of its customers’ laptops with the Avira antivirus program. There are currently several 100 licenses available. “This year we were only able to sell two-year licenses,” says Plüss. “Now we have to look for an alternative for this. But what is the alternative?”
In a previous email to channel partners in September 2019, Avira announced that the above products would be limited to a three-year period. This is why the specialist reseller was only able to sell 2-year licenses in 2020. The expiration date in the email was November 1, 2022. According to the new Avira email, the licenses will expire on 1 January 2022.
Overall, the Avira specialist dealer feels neglected. Plüss cannot yet say whether this change will cause losses. However, Plüss doubts that he will find an offer comparable to Avira. “Avira did not write directly to our customers. When the license expired, we have so far extended it for our customers and have been able to charge these extended licenses directly to the customer without having to enter a credit card number,” he explains. Plüss.
Bern University of Applied Sciences now offers a master’s degree in cybersecurity. With the offer, BFH wants to respond to the growing need for security specialists. Read more here.
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