SonicWall appoints Iris Computers as its distributor

US-based SonicWall, a global company in network security appliances and
mobility solutions, announced the appointment of Delhi-based Iris Computers as a
SonicWall medallion distributor in India. Iris will be expected to appoint 50
medallion partners and a few approved partners in 2005. It is SonicWall's
second distributor in India, Mumbai-based IT Secure Software being the first.

Antony Chapman, Director, Sales, APAC of SonicWall, said, "Iris is known
to have extremely satisfied customers in India. Their strength, especially in
northern India, will add the capability for SonicWall's growth there. The
Indian market has accepted SonicWall's products and the demand is huge and
Iris will help us fulfill that."

Sanjiv Krishen, Chairman, Iris Computers, said, "SonicWall appliances
are an extension of our efforts to help bring international quality products to
India. IBM, HP, Compaq, Acer, Motorola are some of the global brands that we
deal with." He added that he hopes to gain a significant market share for
SonicWall in India this year.

Iris will also simultaneously pursue direct new business development and
market growth.

Antony said, "We are quite aggressive for growth in the Indian market.
Now we have a strong presence in the southern and western part of the country,
but are now targeting the other regions including northern India." He added
that they have an office, RMA center, and call center in Bangalore. But as
expansion in Indian business is carried out, opening new offices covering
different regions of the country is imperative.

He also said that, "SonicWall in India is growing rapidly. Last year we
registered 100% growth and this year are expecting the same." SonicWall
expects to become a million dollar company by the end of the current
fiscal. 

As far as business verticals are concerned, education, solution providers and
retails are been focussed by SonicWall for the Indian market. It will support
Iris and its medallion partners with training, roadshows, seminar, events,
promotions, advertising, public relations and other marketing support.

As part of its global strategy is planning to converge its efforts towards
three major verticals - managed services, education and retail POS.

"We plan to aggressively tap these segments and India will play a major
role towards realizing the full potential of these verticals," said Antony.
According to him, the company is aiming at doubling its revenue from India and
cross the million dollar mark in the country in 2005.

Antony Chapman Appoint 50 medallion partners by 2005 to distribute SonicWall's products

At present it is devising strategies for each of these verticals. It plans to
put all alliances and partnerships in place by the end of January 2005, before
going ahead towards targeting the verticals for the company's operations.

This shift towards industry verticals would simultaneously be implemented in
big markets like India and other South East Asian region countries and is in a
way aimed at pushing the company to the number one position. Antony said that
"So far we have sold more than 550,000 security appliances worldwide. Today
we are selling close to 40,000 security appliances on a quarterly basis.
However, the situation is different in India and our approach to target these
industry verticals will help us gain more market share in the country."

He also informed that with the increase in the number of unwarranted emails
or spam, the company is developing a product line dedicated towards controlling
spam over the Internet. "We have some spam control products and plan to
launch them soon," he said.

FAIZ ASKARI