Interop comes to India
Interop, the leading global business technology event series, will be held for the first time in India, from 4-6 February 2009, at the Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai.
Interop has met the needs of the global technology buyers through in-depth educational programs, a solution-rich exhibition floor, and by showcasing live technology demonstrations from leading IT vendors.
Interop Mumbai will focus on key technology trends, covering topics such as Security, Wireless and Mobility, Data Center, Enterprise 2.0, Green IT, SOA, SaaS, Network Infrastructure, Cloud Computing, Open Source, Unified Communication, IP Telephony, Virtualization, Document Management, etc.
The projected number of exhibitors at Interop Mumbai is 100, and an expected 3,500 qualified business buyers comprising of IT heads, CIOs / CTOs, and other IT professionals will visit the show.
Interop Mumbai will kick off the Interop event series for 2009, to be followed by shows in Las Vegas, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and New York later in the year. For more details, connect to www.interop.com/mumbai.
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Symantec acquired MessageLabs
Symantec Corp has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MessageLabs. Under the terms of the agreement, Symantec will acquire MessageLabs for a purchase price of approximately $695 million in cash, subject to foreign currency adjustments, payable in approximately £310 million Pounds Sterling and $154 million US Dollars. MessageLabs generated approximately $145 million in revenue during fiscal year 2008, ending July 31, 2008 and grew by more than 20 percent over the prior fiscal year. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close by the end of the 2008 calendar year.
“MessageLabs extends our investments in the Software-as-a Service segment and will allow us to offer our customers unprecedented choice from a single provider of message security solutions” said John W. Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer, Symantec. “By combining MessageLabs with our Symantec Protection Network team, we have one of the strongest portfolios of cloud-based infrastructure services and a great foundation on which to grow.”
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SophosLabs partners with Microsoft
IT security and control firm Sophos today announced that it will now receive advanced information from Microsoft about its monthly security bulletins to anticipate emerging threats and provide mutual customers with more timely protection.
SophosLabs, Sophos's global network of highly skilled researchers and analysts, has joined the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP), and will be provided with vulnerability information in advance of Microsoft's monthly security update release to offer protection to customers efficiently and effectively. The information is shared in a secure and confidential manner to prevent it from being used maliciously.
"Microsoft's new initiative should be applauded as it will provide us with valuable information that we can use to update our products and ensure our mutual customers are defended against new vulnerabilities," said Mark Harris, global director of SophosLabs at Sophos. "With cybercriminals constantly on the look for new vectors of attack, it is important for the industry to work together to keep ahead of the fraudsters. MAPP is a strong step in the right direction."
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Sophos completes acquisition of Utimaco
Sophos Plc has announced that it has acquired the necessary level of Utimaco Share capital to proceed with the voluntary public takeover of Utimaco Safeware AG (“Utimaco”) (Frankfurt Stock Exchange ISIN DE0007572406), a global leader in data security solutions for enterprises. As anticipated and in accordance with the Offer Document, Sophos successfully acquired more than 75 percent of Utimaco Shares for a purchase price of EUR 14.75 per Share as of September 30, 2008.
"Together our companies are exceptionally well-positioned to protect customer information and endpoints from both external and internal threats while also improving the manageability of security,” said Steve Munford, CEO of Sophos. “The enthusiastic customer and channel partner response that both Utimaco and Sophos have already received reinforces how strategic this move is for both companies."
Utimaco will form the core of a new business unit within Sophos focused on data security, under the leadership of Utimaco CEO Martin Wuelfert, with a mission to safeguard customers against intentional or unintentional loss of sensitive or confidential data.
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An effort to deliver Security Everywhere
McAfee is teaming with industry leaders HP ProCurve, Intel Corporation and VMware Inc. The cooperation is designed to deliver best-in-class security for HP ProCurve networking products, Intel business PC platforms and the VMware platform.
"The era of providing complete protection simply by installing antivirus software on a PC has long passed. In today's world of sophisticated malware, targeted threats, and multi-stage attacks, security needs to be everywhere," said Dave DeWalt, president and chief executive officer of McAfee. "We're excited to work side-by-side with the world's leading names in technology to deliver on today's security needs."
McAfee and HP ProCurve will build security solutions that combine McAfee's information security products with HP ProCurve's networking product portfolio. McAfee will work with Intel to take advantage of Intel vPro technology to provide security below the operating system layer on PCs. VMware is shipping McAfee VirusScan Plus software with VMware Fusion.
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McAfee and CommVault form strategic alliance
McAfee and CommVault recently announced a strategic partnership to deliver an integrated data and security management solution built on the two companies’ respective data management, backup and security expertise.
The agreement will provide customers worldwide with access to integrated data and security management technology solutions from both McAfee and CommVault. The solution integrates McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) software, McAfee’s security risk management platform, with the award-winning CommVault Simpana software, which delivers Backup, Replication, Archive, Storage Resource Management and Search capabilities.
As part of the partnership, CommVault has also joined the McAfee Security Innovation Alliance, McAfee’s technology partnering program, which is designed to accelerate the development of interoperable security products and simplify the integration of those products with complex customer environments.
The McAfee-CommVault solution will enable mutual customers to monitor corporate data for increased security and compliance with simplified policy management. The integration allows McAfee ePO users to report on the data protection/recovery state of end point clients to identify conditions such as the backup status.
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HID promotes Anthony Ball to Senior VP
HID Global has announced that Anthony Ball has been appointed senior vice president of Global Sales and Marketing, Identity and Access Management (IAM), for HID Global, reporting to Steve Wagner, senior vice president. In his new role, Mr. Ball will play a strategic role in realizing market-facing synergies, while focusing on driving innovative growth initiatives in physical access control (PACS), logical access control (LACS) and secure card issuance, as well as developing solutions, selling strategies and key channel-centric programs.
Prior to his recent promotion, Mr. Ball served as the managing director, EMEA, where he was responsible for the strategic development and implementation of business objectives and growth within the highly competitive region. By leveraging the company’s strategic objectives and building strong relationships with customers and partners throughout the region, Mr. Ball was successful in his mission.
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McAfee launches major cybercrime initiative
McAfee Inc has announced the McAfee Initiative to Fight Cybercrime, a wide ranging initiative aimed at closing critical gaps in the fight against cybercrime. The initiative is anchored by a multi-point plan that includes calls for action from law enforcement, academia, service providers, government, the security industry and society at large to deliver more effective investigations and prosecutions of cybercrime.
“Cybercrime is a growing problem that negatively impacts everybody,” said Dave DeWalt, McAfee president and chief executive officer. “While a lot has been done to combat cybercrime over the past decade, criminals still have the upper hand. The chances of getting caught for knocking off a convenience store are several times larger than robbing an online bank. This must change.”
In addition to forming the Advisory Council, McAfee is also announcing a new McAfee Initiative to Fight Cybercrime Grants program and Cybercrime Response Unit.
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Fortinet and Dimension Data form global partnership
Fortinet and Dimension Data recently announced a global agreement whereby Dimension Data will integrate, install and provide consultancy services for Fortinet's network security solutions to enterprises worldwide. The new partnership combines an innovative and proven security platform with Dimension Data's robust and trusted integration capabilities, which will decrease clients' time- and cost-to-market in creating secure infrastructures.
This agreement with Dimension Data, operating in 47 countries across five continents, marks Fortinet's deepest and broadest global systems integrator partnership. Fortinet's proven technology, research and development capabilities and market leadership in UTM, when combined with Dimension Data's global capabilities in consulting, integration and support, will enable Dimension Data to continue to deliver innovative and cost-effective security solutions to the market.
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ESET promotes Matthew McManus to VP of Sales
ESET has announced that Matthew McManus has been promoted to the position of vice president of sales. McManus, formerly the director of sales operations, brings 17 years of sales, channel development, operations and leadership experience to his new role. McManus will be responsible for leading the North American Sales Team and will provide strategic channel direction and operational excellence to the organization.
"We welcome Matthew to his new role and look forward to the positive changes he will bring to the position," said Anton Zajac, ESET CEO. "He has already proven himself to be an invaluable member of the ESET family, and I am confident that his experience, leadership and vision will result in ESET continuing its impressive growth."
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Aladdin names Dirk Christiansen VP of global marketing
Aladdin Knowledge Systems has announced that Dirk Christiansen will join Aladdin’s management team as the new Vice President of Global Marketing. Christiansen brings significant expertise in the security and networking industries, setting global strategy focused on lead generation, branding, and go-to-market programs.
Christiansen joins Aladdin from Sophos, where he served as the vice president of global marketing. In his time there he increased qualified leads and revenue by more than 25 percent through innovative marketing, branding and lead generation strategies. Previously, he served as the senior director of marketing for Trend Micro, driving lead generation, field marketing and vertical market messaging strategies. Christiansen also held senior marketing positions at Intel, ServGate, Novell and Firefox.
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K7 gets new CTO
Chennai-based antivirus vendor, K7 Computing has hired security veteran Andrew Lee as Chief Technology Officer. Lee, who is the founding member and CEO of AVIEN (Anti Virus Information Exchange Network), and a board member of AMTSO (Anti Malware Testing Standards Organization), is also a widely published author of hundreds of articles on antivirus and security. In addition, he is a member of AVAR (Association of antiVirus Asia Researchers) and also a reporter for Wildlist.
“We are happy to have Andrew on the K7 team. His experience and expertise will help us build strong processes and provide better technology products to our Indian customers, while helping create new markets overseas,” said J Kesavardhanan, CEO, K7 Computing.
The antivirus vendor recently signed up with Compuage Infocom as national distributor and also hired S Srinivasan, ex-Director of Numeric Power Systems to head its national sales.
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Travis Witteveen new VP of Global Sales at AVG
AVG Technologies has announced that Travis Witteveen has joined the company in the newly-created position of Vice President of Global Sales, with responsibility for global sales and market/business development. He has 16 years’ experience in international software sales, and joins AVG from F-Secure, a leading security software developer specializing in real-time and mobile solutions, where he was a member of the executive team. Travis has extensive knowledge of traditional distribution and reseller channels as well as Internet Service Providers and other distribution models. He has established and run remote offices in Europe, North America and Asia. He has dual US-Dutch citizenship and holds a BS/BA in Finance and International Business Administration from North-eastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
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BitDefender points out a new mix of spam techniques
BitDefender researchers have detected a new wave of spam messages advertising medication for sex life improvement, such as male enhancement drugs. The novelty of this spam campaign resides both on its amplitude and on the mix of delivery confirmations the unsolicited e-mails request.
The first technique seeks to exploit a common feature in most e-mail clients—read receipts or notifications. Under normal circumstances, a read receipt confirms the user has received and read the message. When related to bulk mail, a read receipt proves that the user’s e-mail address is valid and active.
If the user discovers the trick and does not send the read receipt, there is, however, a secondary layer of confirmation techniques that spammers added: the reference to a remotely stored image. E-mail clients traditionally block this type of content. To see it, users should allow the image to load and thus to confirm they read the message.
Last but not least, if the previous two confirmation schemes fail, the third layer should be effective, especially when the users realize they have been duped and are not aware of the “classic” unsubscribe or opt-out scam. The alleged opt-out links do not unsubscribe the recipient from the mailing list, but confirm his or her address is fully functional and ready to get even more spam.
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Alcatel-Lucent completes acquisition of Motive
Alcatel-Lucent has announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Motive, Inc. The acquisition solidifies the existing three-year relationship between the two companies, which had jointly developed and sold remote management software solutions for automating the deployment, configuration and support of advanced home networking devices called residential gateways (RGs). More than 70 service providers worldwide use Motive products today.
“With the combination of Motive’s service management software and Alcatel-Lucent’s world-class fixed and wireless broadband networking infrastructure, service providers can now rely on a single solution to deliver a seamless, consistent, converged customer experience across a range of services, networks and devices, both fixed and mobile,” said Luis Martinez Amago, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s fixed access activities. “Motive is enriching Alcatel-Lucent’s portfolio with an expanded application suite that is ideally suited to the challenge of enhancing consumers ‘digital life’ by delivering video and other multimedia content where they live, work and play.”
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ixia eyes aggressive growth in India in three years
Ixia has announced its three-year strategy for the Indian subcontinent and its launch of “iSimCity,” an executive briefing center and proof-of-concept (PoC) lab in Bangalore aimed at serving the growing telecom R&D presence in India. The new “iSimCity” is the most advanced IP simulation lab in India, capable of simulating an entire city, reaching out to a broad subscriber base offering a host of IP services. iSimCity is able to simulate 120,000 subscribers in a single test and by the end of the year, the capacity is expected to reach up to 500,000 subscribers. Ixia already enjoys a strong presence across R&D segments in India. The company is eyeing aggressive growth in the next three years, expanding it presence in north and west markets to cover carrier and defense verticals. With more than 6000 customers globally, the company currently works with Reliance, Bharti, Nortel, Cisco and Juniper amongst others. Ixia also has an engineering and quality assurance facility in Kolkata
According to Atul Bhatnagar, President and CEO “India as a market offers tremendous potential for growth. We will actively support this growth by increasing our direct local sales and R&D presence in order to address the needs of the customers. Ixia will provide not only the highest level of technical expertise in the IP area, but also the fastest support to our customers.”
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Kaspersky establishes a regional office in Hong Kong
Kaspersky Lab announces the opening of a regional office in Hong Kong. The office will host the management team of the Asia-Pacific Regional Division of Kaspersky Lab headed by Harry Cheung, Managing Director, Asia-Pacific. The Asia-Pacific Regional Division coordinates Kaspersky Lab’s operations and business development in China, Taiwan, India, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Brunei, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
The Asia-Pacific Regional Division has the important tasks of providing partners and users in the region with the most comprehensive support and extending the range of available services. A direct company presence will not only leverage the company’s profile in the region and strengthen its position in Asia-Pacific, but will also the make it possible to establish closer cooperation with its partners and will provide a substantial platform for improving the quality of technical and marketing support. Additionally, Kaspersky Lab's constant presence in the Asia-Pacific region makes it possible to provide its users with even more effective protection from local IT threats. This is especially important considering that, according to Kaspersky Lab research data, over 50% of all unique malware samples emerging in the world originate from this region.
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ESET captures 52nd Virus Bulletin VB100 Award
ESET has publicized it has captured a record 52nd VB100 award from Virus Bulletin, a widely-respected independent comparative testing group. The October 2008 comparative review was conducted on the Windows Server 2008 platform, showcasing ESET’s continued support for the latest Windows environments. ESET is still the only company with more than 50 VB100 awards and continues to lead the industry with the highest detection rates with zero false positives — the winning formula in malware prevention.
ESET NOD32 Antivirus' stylish new look remains impressive both visually and in usability terms." said John Hawes, Virus Bulletin. "Analysis of results showed the product's usual excellent detection rates and yet more splendid scanning speeds over the clean sets, with nothing missed in the WildList set. ESET adds yet another VB100 to its record tally."
ESET is powered by ThreatSense technology, an advanced heuristics engine that enables proactive detection of malware not covered by even the most frequently updated signature-based products. Unlike traditional approaches, ESET solutions decode and analyze executable code in real-time, using an emulated environment. By allowing malware to execute in a secure virtual world, ESET is able to clearly differentiate between benign files and even the most sophisticated and cleverly-disguised malware.
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Zebra Technologies brings RFID & Bar Code technology to Ludhiana
Zebra Technologies Corporation enters the Punjab market with auxiliary technology to suit the requirements of varied sectors in the industry. Having its presence felt in major cities in India like Mumbai, Delhi & Bangalore, Zebra Technologies is now looking at reaching out to the tier II and tier III cities in India. Zebra Technologies targets sectors across verticals which include Retail, Pharma, Healthcare, and Manufacturing, Airlines, Entertainment and others. In the past year, Zebra has received encouraging responses from companies across these sectors.
Shailesh Deshmukh, Country Head, India for Zebra Technologies says "Ludhiana is the industrial support/hub of Punjab and is one of the leading business centers in the whole northern province of India. Ludhiana has shown phenomenal growth over the recent years and is emulated as a role model across the country. A large number of units have come up both in small scale as well as in large & medium scale sector. With the textiles and hosiery industry the other key industries are cycle manufacturers, sewing machine manufacturers, auto parts manufacturers, machine tools manufacturers, manufacturers of electronic goods, tyres and tubes industries All these verticals can be potentially automated and hence we see a huge market here for our offerings. Also, the export market in Ludhiana is worth $40 million USD, making Ludhiana a potential market for Zebra."
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Kaspersky Lab announces new senior management appointments
Kaspersky Lab announces two new appointments to the company's global management team. Keith Maskell has been appointed to the position of Vice President, Corporate Business, and Roger Wilson has been named as Kaspersky Lab's new Vice President, Marketing. Both positions are based in the company's headquarters (Moscow, Russia).
Maskell previously held the position of Managing Director at Canon in Russia. Before coming to Russia with Canon, he was General Manager of Canon in Ireland from 2001 to 2003 and Director of the pan-European Corporate and International Channel at Canon's strategic headquarters in London from 2003 to 2006. Earlier, Keith Maskell worked in senior managerial positions at Xerox and Kvaerner.
Before joining Kaspersky Lab, Wilson worked in senior management positions at Dell (EMEA Corporate Communications Director) and Hewlett-Packard (EMEA Brand and Company Communications Director). Prior to that he worked in marketing management with Xerox and Ford.
The appointment of Keith Maskell as Vice President, Corporate Business completes the upgrade phase of Kaspersky Lab's global business management structure.
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VeriSign partners with Net4
VeriSign has announced that it has partnered with leading IP communication services and solutions provider Net4 to provide businesses in India with comprehensive secure e-commerce solutions.
Under the terms of the agreement, Net4 will now provide customers across India with all VeriSign Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) solutions, including standard and Extended Validation SSL Certificates. These solutions enable secure e-commerce, communications and interactions for Web sites, intranets and extranets.
As the global leader in Internet trust services, VeriSign secures over 1 million servers, including over 95 percent of the Fortune 500 companies, over 90 percent of the Internet Retailer 500 and 96 of the world’s 100 largest SSL-using banks.
“We expect to see significant growth in the Indian market over the next few years through our partnership with Net4,” said Shekhar Kirani, vice president for VeriSign India. “We have a partner who shares our security vision and has the capability to deliver to the market.”
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Tend Micro names Amit Nath as Country Manager for India and SAARC
Trend Micro India has announced the appointment of Amit Nath as the country manager for the security company in India and SAARC. Earlier Amit has led Trend Micro Value and Volume Business and had responsibility for Channels.
Welcoming Amit in his new role as the Country Manager—India & SAARC, Mahendra Negi, Chief Financial Officer of Trend Micro, said, "I am sure that with him becoming the Country Manager for India and SAARC, Trend Micro will further scale newer heights and consolidate its leadership in the region." Amit takes over the mantle from Niraj Kaushik.
Amit Nath, Country Manager—India and SAARC, Trend Micro, said, "According to a recent report by Gartner, despite a slowdown in the US, IT security spending is on the rise in Asia, especially in India. These are exciting times for the industry in the region. I am thrilled to be leading the operations of Trend Micro in India and SAARC at such a time."
Amit has over 10 years of IT industry experience spread across sales, marketing, operations, program management and management functions. Before joining Trend Micro, he worked with organizations such as Canon, Headstrong and Dell Computers in different geographies.
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MicroWorld showcased its advanced IT Security solutions at Gitex
MicroWorld has recently participated at Gitex Technology Week 2008. The week long event focuses on Middle East’s fast growing IT Sector and scheduled at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Dubai from 19th October to 23rd October 2008.
MicroWorld develops advanced Security Solutions for comprehensive protection against computer security threats such as Viruses, Spyware, Adware etc. MicroWorld will be exhibiting its entire range of IT Security Solutions eScan, MailScan, X-SPAM and eConceal at Gitex 2008 and is looking to recruit new channel partners in the Middle East and Africa.
Mr. Sunil Kripalani, Vice President International Marketing & Sales of MicroWorld Technologies, sharing his views said, “The rapidly developing IT market in Middle East is expected to cross US$95 billion by 2010 and businesses needs a strong security partner who will help protect these from all current and evolving security threats. Our innovative technologies and a robust support model have made us the favorite security partner for IT implementers across the region.”
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CA acquires IDFocus LLC
CA has acquired IDFocus LLC and its identity management technology, ACE. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "Identity management is essential to comprehensive IT security, and the integration of CA Identity Manager and ACE technology enables CA to deliver a robust and powerful identity management solution," said Dave Hansen, corporate senior vice president and general manager, CA Security Management. "This acquisition strengthens CA's ability to continually enhance critical elements of CA's Identity and Access Management suite, which helps our customers effectively manage employees' and partners' identity lifecycles and meet new compliance demands."
IDFocus provides several key identity management capabilities with its technology. CA Identity Manager helps improve security and business efficiency by automating identity management processes. The integration of IDFocus software helps increase efficiencies by taking provisioning to a more specific, finer-grained entitlements level.
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CA announces expansion of India Technology Center
CA has announced plans to expand its India Technology Center (ITC) with the construction of a new 180,000 square foot building on the CA campus in Hyderabad. When completed in late 2010, the new US$30 million research and development (R&D) building will have the capacity to house an additional 1,000 employees.
Opened just a year ago after four years of CA R&D activity in India, the ITC now contributes to the development of all major CA products in the areas of IT management, governance and security. The ITC team plays a central role in applying CA’s Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision to unifying and simplifying IT management for customers and partners all over the world, developing innovative solutions to govern, manage and secure IT environments.
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Kaspersky to open a regional office in Southeast Asia
Kaspersky Lab announces the official opening of its regional office in Southeast Asia. In line with the opening, Gun Suk Ling, previously the Director of Channel of Kaspersky Lab in Southeast Asia, is now the Managing Director of the Southeast Asia office, located in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Kaspersky Lab also simultaneously announces the official opening of its regional Demo Lab, housed within the Petaling Jaya office. The fully-equipped Demo Lab is capable of simulating any corporate environment or scenario requested by clients and provides them with a comprehensive demonstration of Kaspersky Lab's range of products for SMBs, large enterprises and the mobile computing industry. The Demo Lab will also function as a client training centre.
The decision to establish the regional office and Demo Lab for Southeast Asia in Petaling Jaya was made due to Malaysia's central location in the region and Kaspersky Lab's especially strong position and long history in this country. In addition, Kaspersky Lab has been cooperating with the Malaysian government for several years and is an active member of the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT), which is headquartered in Malaysia.
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3Com appoints new Senior VP of Worldwide Products and Solutions
3Com Corporation has announced that Saar Gillai has joined the company as its new Senior Vice President of Worldwide Products and Solutions. Gillai brings more than 20 years of networking experience to 3Com, including management positions with companies such as Cisco Systems Inc., Newbridge Networks and Tropos Networks. Gillai will report to 3Com President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Sege.
As head of worldwide products and solutions, Gillai will be responsible for defining the company’s long-term vision for product lines and solutions, including roadmap, pricing and positioning, and requirements. He will work closely with the company’s research and development (R&D) and sales teams to develop innovative ways to help customers stretch their networking budgets and ‘do more with less.’
Prior to joining 3Com, Gillai was Senior Vice President of Product Development and Operations for Enfora. He was responsible for scaling development activities and operational processes, as well as guiding Enfora’s technology direction to support global expansion. He joined Enfora from Tropos Networks where was Vice President of Engineering and Product Management.
Gillai also spent seven years at Cisco in a variety of leadership positions, including Vice President of Engineering for the Wireless Networking Business Unit. He previously worked at Newbridge Networks as well as several start-up companies.
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