Symantec to identify vertical-centric partners

In a bid to further explore the potential of the information security market,
Symantec will identify more partners, who are vertical-centric. Currently
Symantec has 15 active reselling partners. However, the company feels that there
is a need for partners to upscale their operations in terms of the value
proposition that they can offer to end-users.

"But to upscale, a partner doesn’t only need technical and
infrastructure up-gradation but also better financial capabilities. This not all
of our existing partner may posses and hence a need to look for other partners
who are very strong in certain verticals and have the required resources at
their end," justified Ambarish Deshpande, Manager (Marketing), Symantec
India.

According to Deshpande, there are huge opportunities in BFSI, government, BPO,
manufacturing, pharma and healthcare that needs to get addressed in a very
dedicated manner. "Our priority would be to try and upgrade our existing
partner base itself. But at the same time, we would need to look at other
players as well, who could largely be some good systems integrators," he
added.

The company is also looking at increasing its business from the SME segment.
"Last year, SME accounts contributed nearly 25 percent of our total sales.
This year, we expect this to go up to around 35 percent," he stated.

Symantec has also expressed high expectations from its security appliance
business. While it had introduced products in this space about two years ago,
lack of focus and customer demand forced the company to discontinue to the
product.

"However, this year we are looking at selling between 300-500 of these
security appliance in the Indian market," informed Deshpande. Currently,
Symantec offers two range of appliance: SGS 5400 series and SGS 300s series.
While the former is a high-end product range and starts at Rs 6 lakh, latter is
a low-end product with a pricing between Rs 80,000 and Rs 2.5 lakh.

"We have also tied up with UPS to take care of logistics and the
re-launch of the appliances should happen in next two month’s time,"
disclosed Deshpande.

Goldie

Mumbai