In The Boardroom With...

Mr. Neville Driver
CEO
Panda Security Canada
www.pandasecurity.com

SecurityStockWatch.com: It’s a pleasure to welcome you back, Neville. It appears that you have some new responsibilities now. Congratulations on your appointment as CEO of Panda Security Canada! What is your vision for Panda Security Canada at this time?

Neville Driver: Thank you, Martin. While Panda Security is a leader in anti malware solutions worldwide, in Canada , we are one of the fastest growing vendors in this space. Our current customers in Canada range in size from a single license home user to a 55,000 license account. Canada has one of the highest rates of internet usage with a penetration of over 80%.  The world is increasingly getting digital with more and more content for everyday use, from social networking to movies, going online. We have great technology to share with our Canadian customers and we believe we are well positioned to address their needs. We believe the reach of Panda Security technology will increase appreciably within the consumer, SMB and Corporate market segments in the years to come.

SecurityStockWatch.com: We understand that Panda Security Canada has been able to achieve growth at more than twice the industry average – that is quite an achievement. Please tell us about Panda Security’s value proposition, especially in these difficult economic times, which has enabled Panda Security Canada to increase market share so significantly.

Neville Driver: The current economic climate is challenging, of that there is no doubt. Canadian companies are cautious when it comes to spending of any kind, and that includes any form of investment in IT. However, most companies recognize that they need to have current and more importantly effective anti malware protection. Without this they are vulnerable to online threats and potentially very costly loss or corruption of data, or worse, data theft that can cost them both in terms of dollars and reputation. Panda Security not only provides the best protection in the business, we stand 100% behind our products. Quite often customers choose us for our technology as well as the relationships we have with them on an ongoing basis before, during and after a sale. They know we are always there for them when they need us and that is comforting in these challenging times. Our prices are competitive and we have flexible models to suit the customer’s requirements in terms of technology and finance. All in all, we offer a total package. The SMB segment is a large segment within Canadian business and we address the needs of this segment particularly well. This has enabled us to grow effectively in Canada .

SecurityStockWatch.com: One will read on PandaSecurity.com that the Company strives to provide “products and services for keeping clients' IT resources free from viruses and other computer threats at the lowest possible Total Cost of Ownership.” Please update our audience about your product line.

Neville Driver:Another reason why Panda Security does well is that we have a product line that effectively addresses the complete needs of clients. We have our highly rated retail product line with built in Collective Intelligence technology to end point security for SMB market topped up with SaaS and Managed Services products which provides effective protection with very low resource consumption. Our SMB/Corporate product line comes with built in network audit technology making them the best choice for small and mid size businesses. We have Anti - Spam product called Trustlayer Mail and Panda Managed Office Protection product sets that showcase the effectiveness of cloud computing with the benefit of Managed Services. For large enterprise such as banks, ISP and online portal such as eBay, we have targeted attack alert services giving them customized protection against malicious intent. In appliances, we have a new and exciting range of perimeter devices in collaboration with SUN Microsystems  that address a range of applications from web content control to spam, AV and VPN. All these solutions are designed for lower upfront costs as well as great reliability that result in lower running costs. We can typically provide superior protection, better service and lower total cost of ownership to customers who are planning to renew their services with the competition.

SecurityStockWatch.com: We see that you are providing the new 4.03 version of Panda Security for Business “free” for one year – care to elaborate? Where can end-users get more information about this opportunity?

Neville Driver: Yes, this is an exciting limited time offer to Canadian businesses of all sizes who would consider contracting with Panda Security for their online security needs. The new 4.03 version of this stable, award winning software has the most advanced HIPS ( Host Intrusion Prevention System), even greater detection capability of known and unknown malware and even better, it uses less resources. Simply put, Panda Security for Business is the most effective and cost effective solution for endpoint protection in the market today. And as an added benefit we currently have an offer of a completely free additional year of service when the customer signs up for 2 years; that’s three years for the price of two.  End users can call their preferred reseller or call our office directly at 1-866-887-3957 and speak to a sales associate for more details.

SecurityStockWatch.com: What are your key target markets at this time and what is your perspective regarding the market drivers for Panda Security solutions in this environment?

Neville Driver: Panda Security is a company completely focused on security. That is all we do. This also allows us to make our offering more complete from consumer protection to in the cloud protection. As a result we are a great fit for almost any person or company who would need security against online malware. In Canada , our target segments are manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and logistics and the financial verticals. Panda’s products are highly rated and well respected in the IT community in Canada . We have several cases where Panda products have detected rootkits and Trojans in networks that were protected by the traditional antivirus approach of the competition. Canadian customers are sensitive to the fact that an intrusion will typically cost the company several times its investment in anti malware technology, and this drives the market to seek beyond the big brands and look closely at the specialized offerings of companies such as Panda Security. Again, reaction time to issues and questions is also a key differentiator between vendors nowadays. Yes, you may be a 5 PC operation but when your system seems to have an issue, you must be treated with the same care and attention as the larger accounts. Quite often we see the larger anti malware companies less than totally interested in helping the smaller customers out when they have a need, quite simply because their economic model cannot support the level of care that these customers deserve. At Panda, no customer is big or small as compared to another. We treat every customer with the same care and attention irrespective of size or business volume. That is something our customers and resellers love about Panda Security Canada.

SecurityStockWatch.com: What are your comments on the evolution of the online security market over time in Canada as it relates to consumer and corporate security?

Neville Driver:  The market has certainly changed in the past decade and more significantly in the past 2-3 years. These have to do with the increase in sophistication of the threat environment and the increase in the number of malware that is created to extract financial gain from the victim. Creation of malware has become an art form in recent times. It takes a specialized company such as Panda to use creative technology, specialized human intervention and a future friendly model to counter these attacks. You have to remember that the malware creators have to get past the gatekeepers just once or twice to get financial gain and make their operation viable. Anti Malware vendors have to prevent such attacks 100% of the time to protect their customers. IT systems are the heart of any organization and are critical to the overall health of the business. Malware is the threat to that system. When so much is at stake, the specialist, not the generalist, is your best bet.

On the consumer side, Panda has experienced exceptional growth with our award winning product line- the AV Pro 2009, Internet Security 2009 and our flagship consumer product Global Protection 2009. They all have a very low resource consumption while delivering the collective intelligence model to consumers. Canadian consumers have also evolved over time and many are now looking at independent product reviews and making their decisions based on technology and unbiased comment. With this exciting trend we have seen the demand of Panda Security consumer products rise in the past 5 quarters.

Driving all this is increased access to a wealth of information online, something that was missing a decade ago. The rise of social networking as a powerful tool has also helped spread awareness and experiences with malware and anti malware tools. And Canadians are amongst the leaders in the world in embracing and effectively using these new technologies.

SecurityStockWatch.com: Thanks again for joining us today, Neville, are there any other subjects you’d like to discuss?
 
Neville Driver: Thank you, Martin, for this wonderful opportunity to discuss Panda Security and the Canadian market with your readers. Our goal is to keep the dialogue going about the threats we face online. Hopefully it will result in increased awareness of progressive technology out there to fight such threats. I would encourage your readers to visit www.pandasecurity.com to find out more, including information on the latest viruses, as well as to use the free online scan tool we have made available to everyone. All our products have a 30 day trial link online and I would like everyone to try Panda Security Solutions to experience firsthand why we are considered amongst the very best in this industry. For any questions, we are just a phone call away and will be glad to help out: 1-866-887-3957.   I would also like to thank the media, especially securitystockwatch.com for doing such a great job of working to keep us all informed and thereby safer online.