F-Secure獲獎

F-Secure Lauded for Innovation in its Distribution Strategy in the Global Anti-Malware Market

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- 27 August 2007 -- Frost & Sullivan presents F-Secure with the 2007 Global Award for distribution strategy leadership in the anti-malware products market. Given the maturity of the market and the high degree of competition, distribution is a key area that determines growth.

“Having identified upcoming distribution channels several years ago, F-Secure has built strong channel relationships and sustainable distribution business models,” notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Katie Gotzen. “The company continues to strengthen its distribution strategy consistently and has thus gained a significant competitive advantage in this area.”

The year 2006 saw the acceleration of a new distribution trend for security software sales. Internet service providers (ISPs) are becoming the next distribution battleground for vendors. While this distribution channel has long been a secondary focus for many market participants, F-Secure has been implementing best practices in its relationships with ISPs since the late nineties.

In 1999, the company signed its first Security as a Service partnership. Moreover, it launched a subsidiary known as F-Secure Online Solutions (F-SOS) in 2000, which was focused on delivering security services through ISPs. The F-SOS operations were integrated into F-Secure in 2002 to gain synergy benefits.

“As a result of this early focus on the service provider market, F-Secure has a lead in a market which is now becoming a key distribution battlefield,” says Gotzen. “Currently, the company has partnerships with almost 150 ISPs, including such international names as France Telecom, TeliaSonera, Charter Communications in the USA, PCCW in Hong Kong, Optus in Australia, SingNet in Singapore and VSNL in India, and also with leading mobile operators, such as Swisscom, Orange UK and T-Mobile.”

F-Secure has successfully adapted its processes and business model in order to integrate them with service providers’ business models. The company has also built up expertise in service providers’ billing systems.

“The company provides integration with service providers’ monthly billing models,” remarks Gotzen. “This flexibility distinguishes its business model from the standard anti-malware vendor practice of selling licenses on a yearly basis.”

The company dedicates a number of specific channel marketing activities to the service provider segment. Its annual service provider event attracts worldwide participants. It is also engaged in joint marketing activities with service providers and the “SPA”-website is an example of this.

“In addition to having an attractive business model for service providers, F-Secure’s product portfolio also provides an edge for telecom operators,” states Gotzen. “The company has been a pioneer for instance in the mobile security market and continues to remain at the forefront.”

F-Secure was the first vendor to launch a commercially available solution for protecting Symbian OS smartphones in 2004. The company has since refined its technology and extended its protection to Windows Mobile 5.0 in October 2005. It also released ‘Mobile Security’, which has a mobile firewall and antivirus protection for the users of the world’s most popular mobile computing platform, Symbian S60 3rd Edition. This product line will be extended to Windows over the course of 2007.

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Distribution Strategy Leadership is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated superior practices in distribution strategy within the industry.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.