Huawei Symantec will look to expand into Africa and the Middle East once it has established itself in the local market.
Gillian Elson, marketing manager for the African and Middle East region, explains the venture is 51% owned by Huawei, with the balance owned by the security vendor. She says the company is on track with its targets, and has established a channel.
Huawei Symantec has set itself the target of becoming one of the top three hardware vendors in SA in the next two years, taking on entrenched players such as HP and IBM, says Elson.
It was formed by Chinese networking firm Huawei and global data security company Symantec. It is nearing the end of its first year of operation locally. Its focus is on providing storage, security and server equipment, all of which is embedded with Symantec's security software, says Elson.
Its channel strategy allows the joint venture to expand north, through its partners. Elson says Huawei also has offices in Africa, which offers another route to market. “There are huge opportunities in Egypt.”
Deals done
“We have done some significant deals in the market,” says Elson. While not wanting to disclose specifics, she says one of these includes a contract from a local university.
Elson explains that the joint venture is able to leverage off both Huawei and Symantec's client bases, and actively aims to cross-sell to their clients. Its focus areas are on enterprise companies in the financial, educational and government space.
She says the company, which is channel-centric, has its own manufacturing centre in China, which allows it to pass on cost savings to customers, and be price competitive.
Westcon was appointed in mid-year to handle storage distribution, and its partners are Eclipse and Exon. Another distributor should be announced soon, says Elson, as the company is currently in talks.
Own technology
Internationally, it has 3 600 staff across the seven regions in which it operates. These include Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Russia. The global firm is headquartered in China.
Huawei Symantec also has 28 training centres worldwide, and one is in SA, says Elson.
More than half of its staff focuses on research and development “to ensure that we are at the forefront of technology,” adds Elson. Ten percent of its revenue is ploughed back into research and development.
It supplies equipment across the board, from entry level for small companies to carrier-grade quality. It also manufactures solid-state drives and virtual storage. Elson explains that its product range is constantly being developed.
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