Kaspersky Lab Int. appoints new distributor in the UK

Ex-Dr Solomon's senior managers bring in Russian anti-virus Product to the UK corporate market Oxford Solutions Limited (OSL), a new company specialising in internet security products, has been launched by two former Dr Solomon's senior managers.

Phil Watts, former Director of UK Business for Dr Solomon's, and Bob Middleton, one time head of anti-virus product management, have marked the birth of OSL by announcing an exclusive distribution and technical support contract to bring the award winning AntiViral Toolkit Pro (AVP), from Kaspersky Lab Int., to UK corporate computer users.

Kaspersky Lab offers protection against over 45,000 viruses, weekly product updates via the internet and round the clock telephone and email support, in both Russian and English, for all its customers.

Kaspersky Lab, which is based in Moscow, has an international reputation for technical excellence. The company was established in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, one of the world's top computer cryptologists and anti-virus experts, who wrote AVP and leads the organisation's research and development team.

The announcement of the launch of OSL and its deal with Kaspersky Lab comes at a time of crisis for corporate users of anti-virus products, according to Phil Watts, Managing Director of OSL. "The quality of support being offered by some of the anti-virus vendors is at an all time low," he said. "Hotlines are drastically under-resourced and customers can't talk to anyone. This is causing serious worries for many companies who are missing the good old days. We believe we can win over a lot of these disillusioned people by offering top quality support and competitive deals, which include bundled support, to switch to AVP. We feel that anti-virus is about service as much as it is about quality of product, and this view is shared by our colleagues at Kaspersky Lab."

OSL is committed to fixing a clear ratio between the volume of licences its sells and the number of people it employs on its 24X7 helpline. It is also applying an in-house ratio between sales and helpline support staff.

OSL has also launched a "New Toolkits For Old" policy, designed to encourage customers to switch to AVP. The offer coincides with NAI's decision to abandon the Dr Solomon's brand in April, when the Dr, "really does leave town."

Under the agreement with Kaspersky Lab, OSL will provide first line technical support from its headquarters in Thame, as well as training and consultancy. Kaspersky Lab will be running second line support in the UK and virus laboratory facilities.

The contract appoints OSL as Kaspersky Lab's Value Added Distributor in the UK.

OXFORD SOLUTIONS: COMPANY BACKGROUNDER

Oxford Solutions Limited specialises in quality products, service and support in the computer security marketplace.
Based in Thame, OSL was established by Phil Watts, former Director of UK Business at Dr Solomon's, and his colleague Bob Middleton, who was head of anti-virus product management at Dr Solomon's. The company was formed at the end of 1999, and officially launched in January 2000. Apart from AVP from Kaspersky Lab, OSL supplies and supports a number of other security products. They include Redcreek VPN, Sterling SAMS, Checkpoint Firewall 1, WebSense Internet Content Manager & Content Technology's MIMEsweeper.
OSL runs its own 24X7 support centre on all its products as well as a consultancy service and security systems installation and configuration. OSL also runs technical workshops on network security. "OSL was founded to bring some much needed quality back into the security arena," said Phil Watts, Managing Director. "Many corporates have been badly let down by suppliers of computer security products, especially the anti-virus vendors. We see ourselves as providing a service, rather than simply selling products."

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