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13 November 2001

Sophos Anti-Virus Opens Office in Singapore as Part of Global Expansion

New office to meet Asia's demand for corporate anti-virus solution

Singapore - In line with its aggressive global expansion strategy, Sophos Anti-Virus, a world leader in corporate anti-virus protection, has announced the opening of a new office in Singapore. The opening of the new office reflects the importance the company places on the Asia region, particularly its rapidly growing network security industry.

The Singapore office, which will be responsible for all sales, marketing and support issues in Asia, is the latest addition to the growing number of Sophos's subsidiaries in the USA, Australia, France, Germany and Japan. Charles Cousins, an IT veteran in Asia, has been appointed managing director of the new subsidiary. With a thorough understanding of the Asia market, Cousins will be at the forefront of the Singapore operations, providing sales and technical support to Sophos Anti-Virus customers and partners in the island republic and the rest of the Asia region.

"We recognize the importance of having an office in Asia and a local support team for our customers in the Asian market," Dr Jan Hruska, Co-founder and CEO of Sophos Plc says. "We are busy hiring staff, including security experts, to ensure we provide an outstanding level of support to our corporate clients."

A manned 24x7x365 support hotline is being established to provide assistances to Sophos's growing number of customers and partners. "Unlike the support offered by other anti-virus companies, who offer voicemail queues or auto-attendants, our center will be manned by anti-virus experts ready to assist customers at any hour of any day of the year," added Dr Hruska.

The UK-based anti-virus company, which focuses on providing anti-virus products for corporate, networked customers, has been growing at twice the industry average. According to IDC, the anti-virus industry average growth rate was 24% in 1999-2000; Sophos's financial results for the year ended 31st March 2001 increased 54% to £22.6 million, from £14.7 million

Sophos Anti-Virus has built its reputation from a strong and loyal global customer base. More than 60% of the company's worldwide turnover comes from outside the UK.

Sophos has forged partnerships with leading security providers in the region, including Taskcon Pte Ltd. "We chose to partner with Sophos Anti-Virus because we know that we can rely on the high detection rates, ease of integration and the outstanding stability of its technology," said Steven Lim, General Manager of Taskcon Pte Ltd. "As a Sophos Partner, we are fully supported by a world class team of anti-virus experts across the globe. Sophos's first-rate technology complements our own product portfolio as we are both focused on the protection of corporate customers."

As part of its strategy to capture a larger market share in Asia, Sophos will continue to search for new business partners. "Asia is an important market for Sophos Anti-Virus, and sales have been increasing rapidly for several years. To sustain our growth momentum, we will partner with other local premier resellers in the region to meet the high demand for our solutions. Our aim is to give corporate, government and educational users of anti-virus software products, an alternative to North American vendors," added Dr Hruska.

According to IDC, the worldwide anti-virus software market is forecast to increase from US$1.2 billion in 1999 to US$2.7 billion by year 2004. In Asia Pacific, IDC predicts the anti-virus market to increase from US$137 million in 1999 to US$456 million in 2004.

Sophos is one of the few security vendors that has managed to maintain a focus on the anti-virus field. The company does not retail its anti-virus products, concentrating instead on the corporate, government and educational markets. Its products address all major operating platforms including Windows NT/2000/XP, Windows 3.1x, Netware, OS/2, Unix, Macintosh System 7.5 and above, Lotus Notes/Domino, SMTP and Microsoft Exchange. A free email notification service for new virus threats is available from here.

About Sophos

Sophos enables enterprises all over the world to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Sophos's network access control, endpoint, web and email solutions simplify security to provide integrated defenses against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, Sophos protects over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with its reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognized for its high level of customer satisfaction and powerful yet easy-to-use solutions, Sophos has received many industry awards, as well as positive reviews and certifications.

Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com