Mecer has signed an agreement with 10Net ICT Solutions to bundle BullGuard with its PCs and laptops.
Mecer, part of the Mustek group of companies, is South Africa's leading branded assembler and distributor of PCs, notebooks and related products. It ships around 200 000 units a year.
BullGuard, supplied locally by 10Net, is a full Internet security suite that includes anti-virus, spam and spyware filters, firewall and online backup with 24/7 online interactive chat support.
"I believe Bullguard offers us an excellent opportunity to increase our revenue stream because it is a technically proficient product that, although the brand is strong in markets abroad, has not yet been branded locally," says Dean Barkhuizen, MD of Mecer.
"Mecer is one of the country's leading PC brands and is a truly South African product," says Riaan Otto, GM of 10Net ICT Solutions. "The agreement will see BullGuard bundled onto systems produced in Gauteng, of which there are about 18 000 each month. This will give us a significant footprint in a short space of time and association with one of the premier brands in the business."
Ian Hale, Global OEM partner director for BullGuard, says: "We are very pleased Mecer is to be a launch partner for BullGuard in South Africa. Mecer's reach in the South African consumer desktop and notebook marketplace is second to none and we expect great things from the strategic alliance. This agreement is key to BullGuard's development plans in South Africa."
BullGuard specialises in user-friendly PC and mobile security solutions. The company's products will soon be available as a standard component of Mecer PCs and notebooks. The bundle includes 90 days free protection via BullGuard's Internet Security suite.
If the agreement proves successful in Gauteng, it will be rolled out to Mecer's other operations in Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Durban. Barkhuizen says it may also filter into other companies in the group, depending again on its success.
Mecer's systems go to customers across the spectrum, from corporate to home users, small office home office (SOHO) and small to medium enterprises. It has 16 000 dealers of which 6 000 are active. Peak sales months are February to May.
Mecer will launch the BullGuard bundle to its internal sales teams that handle corprorate, government, small office and home user at its sales function. It will be followed by a launch to dealers at its auditorium at its Midrand offices and production facility.
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10Net is a value-added distributor focusing on solutions in the areas of Web and e-mail content filtering, performance and availability management, security management, configuration and vulnerability management, operational change control, active directory management, SQL management and encryption. Most of these solutions integrate through an open, service-oriented architecture that enables common reporting, analytics and dashboarding. Organisations can thus reduce system and security risks by analysing, securing and optimising their IT infrastructure. The combined product range from vendors such as Marshal, NetIQ, Idera, BullGuard, Titus Labs and Voltage enables 10Net to provide integrated systems and security management solutions.
Mecer
The Mecer brand of PCs entered the South African IT market in 1987, and after growing rapidly has been one of the best selling PC brands in South Africa for the past 14 years.
Mecer is a Proudly South African company, meeting all the requirements necessary for membership of the PSA initiative, and complies with all local and international manufacturing standards which include WHQL, SABS, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, as well as Microsoft and Windows Certification.
These stringent qualifications, together with the PSA requirements, make Mecer one of the most committed IT companies in Southern Africa. By offering total product and service support, identifying and satisfying customers' needs, Mecer maintains its competitive-edge.
Mecer offers superior quality custom-designed computing solutions for all sectors of the South African market, and its PCs are market leaders.
Mecer is firmly committed to the development of our growing economy, the creation of much-needed jobs, improving education standards, reducing poverty and eliminating crime.
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