Kaspersky Sets Sights On Asia Pacific

[webfact]

Kaspersky sets sights on Asia Pacific

By Asina Pornwasin

The Nation

HONG KONG

Russian computer-security company Kaspersky Lab is planning to focus on the corporate market and expand its business performance in the Asia-Pacific region over the next three years.

Even though Asia-Pacific business contributes only 7 per cent to its total revenue, this is Kaspersky's fastest-growing market, the company's chief operating officer Eugene Buyakin said in Hong Kong.

Within three to five years, Kaspersky aims to become one of the leaders in the region, rising from its present fourth or fifth position to become the market leader or at least number two. As well as being the fastest-growing market for Kaspersky, Asia Pacific is a strategic market for the Russian company. Its market size is also quite big, based on population figures.

"Our business this year is performing well, with a growth rate of almost 40 per cent - four times higher than the growth of the security industry generally, which is less than 10 per cent. The key factor driving this success is the fast growth of the Asia-Pacific market," Buyakin said.

He said that while being a major contributor to the company's growth, the portion of revenue coming from Asia Pacific is still small because it is a new market. It follows well-established markets for Kaspersky in Russia and Europe (48 per cent), Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (24 per cent) and America (21 per cent).

Buyakin said Kaspersky Lab planned to spend a lot more on brand development in Asia Pacific and would also establish a local presence, including sales forces and resources.

"A couple of years ago, when we started to step into this market, we saw very good adoption of our products and good expansion of our brand. We strongly believe that our brand is quite strong in this region. That is why we have invested a lot in this region to promote the brand and the company," he said.

Having started up in Russia in 1997, Kaspersky is well-established in many parts of the world. Its headquarters are in Moscow and is has local offices in 29 countries, although it has yet to open an office in Thailand. Around 300 million people around the world use its products.

This year, Kaspersky has enjoyed growth of 38 per cent to reach revenue of US$540 million (Bt16.24 billion), while the market generally grew by only 7.8 per cent. This follows growth of 31 per cent in 2009 to reach revenue of $390 million, in a year when the market grew by only 3.3 per cent.

Its share of the global market has risen from 5.8 per cent last year to an expected 7.4 per cent this year.

Buyakin said a key factor in this success had been Kaspersky's heavy investment in research and development. This was undertaken because "the evolution of Internet threats requires a high level of protection".

"This year, we expect to be ranked number three in the consumer market and number four in the corporate market," he said. Therefore, as part of its aim to become the market leader in Asian Pacific, Kaspersky will strive first to become the leader in the corporate market, rather than building up an even stronger position in the consumer market.

"Currently, about 65 per cent of our business portfolio is in the consumer market; 28 per cent is in the corporate market and 7 per cent in technology alliances," Buyakin said.

Cybercrime is growing in incidence and complexity and public awareness of malware threats is inadequate, he said. Anti-malware protection is the foundation of any security strategy. Because the evolution of Internet treats needs high levels of protection, Kaspersky has increased its R&D investment, in terms of engineers, four-fold in past three years.

Buyakin said three technology trends were challenging the security industry and security companies. The first is cloud computing, and although this brings a threat to the security industry, it also represents a market opportunity. Cloud computing itself will give security companies greater ability to take care of their customers and protect them effectively.

The second trend is the fast growth of mobile devices, which is both a huge phenomenon and a big challenge to the security industry. For instance, smart-phone users are still unaware of security issues when using their mobile devices.

Last but not least, the convergence in the consumer and corporate markets, in technology terms, is a big security issue. Buyakin gave tablet devices as an example, explaining that the same devices can be used for both private and business activities, creating the challenge for security companies of managing security across all technology platforms.

"This is a big challenge for corporate organisations - how to protect their information and systems, and how to manage security effectively throughout their organisation. It is our job to help them," Buyakin said.

-- The Nation 2010-12-13