A Romanian-based security company wants to expand its toehold in Canada.
“We’re looking for distributors to get into large retail chains and the SME sector,” Mihai Radu, BitDefender’s worldwide communications manager, said in a telephone interview last week.
In addition, it’s trying to find IT services companies, consultants and Internet service providers to carry the firm’s 22 products.
With sizable sales, BitDefender will be able to approach broadline distributors to pick it up, Radu said.</P.
What he can offer resellers is better margins that most of the security companies in the market, he said. However, he wouldn’t give details.
It has already opened one line of attack by signing up two small Canadian distributors, AB Pro Computer Services of Vaudreuil Dorion, Que., and Tallgrass Ranch of Hazelride, Man. A spokesman for Tallgrass could not be reached for comment.
Andreas Bub, president of AB Pro, said his 13-month-old firm only sells BitDefender online so far. Buyers download the applications from the BitDefender corporate Web site, after which AB Pro forwards a key by e-mail.
So far he’s had only “a few sales,” from computer users searching the Web or word of mouth, mainly because AB Pro hasn’t done any marketing or advertising. That will start when his Web site has been updated so buyers can purchase the software from him. Sales of boxed software could come later depending on sales volume.
Well known in Europe and sometimes reviewed in North American consumer computer magazines, BitDefender – which used to be known as AVX until it was rebranded in 2001 – faces tough competition, including brands such as Symantec, McAfee and Computer Associates.
That doesn’t worry Radu, who says BitDefender has 30 per cent of the anti-virus market in France alone.
Its line-up includes 22 products in 15 languages including anti-virus protection for desktops, Microsoft Exchange, he said, as well as Windows and Linux file servers. There are also some versions for Unix.
A version that ISPs can use for themselves as well as for selling desktop protection to end users will be available shortly.
Resellers will also be impressed with the company’s “flexible” channel program, said Radu. “We like to offer conditions other companies in the industry do not offer,” including larger margins and more help in sales and marketing strategies.
However, he wouldn’t give a specific percentage, saying discounts are negotiated on a “case by case basis” depending on the reseller’s sales commitment.
Other aids for resellers include marketing funds,account protections, special discounts for important deals as well as free training and technical support.
The company has no limit on the number of Canadian partners it wants.
Bub urged resellers to “take a PC or a server, scan it with another anti-virus, and then try BitDefender. The facts will convince everybody.”
“For a good product there’s a slot,” he said.
