Panda Software SA, an anti-virus company that was established at the beginning of this year, has started rolling out its expansion strategy with its first move being the appointment of Gauteng Technologies as a VAR partner.
It`s the first in a chain of companies that Brian Little, manager at Panda is appointing to cover a wide user base.
"Our first priority was to establish the latest product line - Platinum - in this country and to position our support structure to ensure that users have the benefit of Panda`s 365 days a year, 24x7 support which we offer to all users. This strategy has brought Panda to the forefront of anti-virus solution companies in Europe," says Little.
Gauteng Technologies, he says, has long been involved in the provision of anti-virus products and the fact that it was prepared to switch to Panda Software is a significant endorsement of the product`s strengths.
Hilton Katzel, director at Gauteng Technologies, says his company has been involved in the anti-virus market since 1988 when there were only 256 known viruses. Today there are more than 20 000 and this is increasing by about 10 viruses daily.
"I believe Panda Software has a real winner with Platinum because it has a lot of features not offered by competitive products particularly its low cost, daily update facility through the Internet and its 24x7, 365 days a year support infrastructure," says Katzel.
He says he is currently in the process of converting existing customers to Panda, while a large opportunity exists for his company to install the product at several sites that have not yet realised the business benefits of running anti-virus software.
"In the light of many viruses such as Melissa and its derivatives, companies are now recognising that business can be disrupted without a reliable anti-virus system so in some ways the latest virus attacks have proved beneficial," he says.
Share
Editorial contacts