New office to meet Asia's demand for corporate anti-virus
solution
Singapore - In line with its aggressive global expansion
strategy, Sophos Anti-Virus, a world leader in corporate anti-virus
protection, has announced the opening of a new office in Singapore.
The opening of the new office reflects the importance the company
places on the Asia region, particularly its rapidly growing network
security industry.
The Singapore office, which will be responsible for all sales,
marketing and support issues in Asia, is the latest addition to the
growing number of Sophos's subsidiaries in the USA, Australia,
France, Germany and Japan. Charles Cousins, an IT veteran in Asia,
has been appointed managing director of the new subsidiary. With a
thorough understanding of the Asia market, Cousins will be at the
forefront of the Singapore operations, providing sales and
technical support to Sophos Anti-Virus customers and partners in
the island republic and the rest of the Asia region.
"We recognize the importance of having an office in Asia and a
local support team for our customers in the Asian market," Dr Jan
Hruska, Co-founder and CEO of Sophos Plc says. "We are busy hiring
staff, including security experts, to ensure we provide an
outstanding level of support to our corporate clients."
A manned 24x7x365 support hotline is being established to
provide assistances to Sophos's growing number of customers and
partners. "Unlike the support offered by other anti-virus
companies, who offer voicemail queues or auto-attendants, our
center will be manned by anti-virus experts ready to assist
customers at any hour of any day of the year," added Dr Hruska.
The UK-based anti-virus company, which focuses on providing
anti-virus products for corporate, networked customers, has been
growing at twice the industry average. According to IDC, the
anti-virus industry average growth rate was 24% in 1999-2000;
Sophos's financial results for the year ended 31st March 2001
increased 54% to £22.6 million, from £14.7 million
Sophos Anti-Virus has built its reputation from a strong and
loyal global customer base. More than 60% of the company's
worldwide turnover comes from outside the UK.
Sophos has forged partnerships with leading security providers
in the region, including Taskcon Pte Ltd. "We chose to partner with
Sophos Anti-Virus because we know that we can rely on the high
detection rates, ease of integration and the outstanding stability
of its technology," said Steven Lim, General Manager of Taskcon Pte
Ltd. "As a Sophos Partner, we are fully supported by a world class
team of anti-virus experts across the globe. Sophos's first-rate
technology complements our own product portfolio as we are both
focused on the protection of corporate customers."
As part of its strategy to capture a larger market share in
Asia, Sophos will continue to search for new business partners.
"Asia is an important market for Sophos Anti-Virus, and sales have
been increasing rapidly for several years. To sustain our growth
momentum, we will partner with other local premier resellers in the
region to meet the high demand for our solutions. Our aim is to
give corporate, government and educational users of anti-virus
software products, an alternative to North American vendors," added
Dr Hruska.
According to IDC, the worldwide anti-virus software market is
forecast to increase from US$1.2 billion in 1999 to US$2.7 billion
by year 2004. In Asia Pacific, IDC predicts the anti-virus market
to increase from US$137 million in 1999 to US$456 million in
2004.
Sophos is one of the few security vendors that has managed to
maintain a focus on the anti-virus field. The company does not
retail its anti-virus products, concentrating instead on the
corporate, government and educational markets. Its products address
all major operating platforms including Windows NT/2000/XP, Windows
3.1x, Netware, OS/2, Unix, Macintosh System 7.5 and above, Lotus
Notes/Domino, SMTP and Microsoft Exchange. A free email
notification service for new virus threats is available from
here.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.