Bilbao, Spain-based anti-virus software firm Panda Software is to launch its UK office on September 1, and reckons it will have 10% of Britain’s corporate anti-virus market within three years. Panda Software (UK) Ltd will start selling two products, one for consumers and one for corporate customers, and launch its first marketing campaign.
Its corporate product, Global Virus Insurance 24h-365d is, as the name suggests, a 24 x 365-supported virus protection system. The software updates itself automatically every day via the internet, downloading fixes for the on average 13 new virus variants that appear daily, according to Panda. Additionally, users can buy 24-hour and 12-hour SOS services, where Panda will guarantee a fix within those periods. The firm currently says it has a 98% success rate at keeping to this deadline. Prices go from as little as 12 pounds ($19) per seat per year in 250-employee enterprises to 39 pounds ($62) for a consumer desktop license. The consumer version is identical to the corporate except for the lack of administrator software.
Panda portrays itself something like the friendly beat cop of the anti-virus market. The company, operating in 26 countries, is still much smaller than market leaders Network Associates Inc and Symantec Corp, and says it has resisted tempting offers to be acquired by big players several times recently. Although the firm is nine years old, UK MD Jerry Bates says the firm is unlikely to float for another two to three years, and being snapped up by a rival is unlikely.
