Unistal enhances BitDefender presence in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA: In order to enhance BitDefender’s presence in the Indian market, Unistal Systems, its national distributor in India, has geared up to undertake several initiatives that will lead to enhanced visibility of BitDefender products across the country. Unistal is also aiming to appoint a range of channel partners.

Sharing details on the initiatives, Alok Gupta, MD, Unistal Systems mentioned, “We are already expanding our channel network and based on our distribution model have divided the products into various categories that include anti-virus, Internet security and data security. In addition, we have combined product suites available from our end and and BitDefender's end that will be offered to our partners. We will also appoint state and region-wise partners depending upon the product.”

Gupta further added that for each product categories, Unistal has appointed various associate partners who in turn sell to the resellers under them. This also helps in avoiding any overlap between channel partners and it also gives them enough scope for revenues. Unistal currently has 18 associate partners and the company will take the count to 24 to further strengthen the BitDefender's presence.

“We have not appointed many associate partners in the eastern region and hence most of our newly appointed associate partners will be from there. We are also looking at tying up with retail chains and are already in discussion with the Tata Group for stocking BitDefender products. But given the slowdown and payment issues that we are currently experiencing, we will be cautious before entering into retail partnerships,” added Gupta.

In addition, Unistal is also looking at strengthening its support structure. The company has set itself a target of setting up more than 500 support centers across the country within a span of next six months.

Elaborating further Gupta reiterated, “We are looking at setting up more than 500 support centers in the next six months. The idea is to have a support center every five kilometers in the metros. Centers will be opened in upcountry cities as well.”

Unistal will give preference to its partners to set up support centers. The company is looking to appoint resellers for this purpose and will impart training to handle support issues. “Furthermore, we may also look at a third party arrangement depending upon the place and location. Unistal has already been training people on data recovery services. Besides, this move by the company will also benefit the partners since it will serve as revenue model for them,” Gupta added.

On the other hand having received awards and certifications for BitDefender 2009, the company is now looking at launching the 2010 version, which will include other advanced features to cure viruses more effectively.

Diana Stoleru, Channel Manager—APAC, BitDefender opined, “Malware has been expanding for the last three to four years and becoming more difficult to detect. Therefore, BitDefender has come up with a new technology called B-Have. This technology analyzes the malicious viruses and gives the users an update in an hour’s time aside from trapping the behavior of the virus.”

BitDefender has also inserted another feature in this model known as the gamer mode. The company has also made Quick Scan tool (a free scan tool) available on its website, which helps the user in detect any active virus and if any applications are running on it.

“The quick scan feature is already available on-line. However, the beta version will be released as a full fledged product by the end of the second quarter,” added Stoleru.