IronPort outlines ambitious plans for Asia
E-mail security company IronPort Systems has ambitious sales targets and hiring plans for the region in the next 16 months, according to the company's regional head.
Joy Ghosh, IronPort's managing director for the Asia-Pacific region, told ZDNet Asia that the company is targeting to achieve a 400-percent year-on-year increase in sales this year.
IronPort will also increase its headcount in the region by 50 percent by the end of 2007, noted Ghosh. Already, staff strength in the region has jumped 30 percent over the last six months, including the appointment of Ghosh in March, and Stephanie Boo as the regional director for Southeast Asia.
Founded in 2002, IronPort gained market traction for its e-mail gateway appliances, which run on the company's ASyncOS operating system developed to manage e-mail, and reputation-based filtering tools.
More recently, the company has made moves to enter into adjacent markets--it introduced its own antispam software last year, and is scheduled to launch its Web security appliance in October.
Ghosh added that instant messaging and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are other adjacent technologies that the company may invest in, depending on the market size and conditions. The company also has specific products targeting small and midsize businesses that promise users the ability to set up and run e-mail security within 10 minutes, he said.
Since establishing presence in the Asia-Pacific region three years ago, IronPort has signed on more than 500 customers in the region--mainly "large banks, governments and Internet service providers"--through its network of over 200 channel partners, said Ghosh.
It is also seeing high growth in the number of ongoing customer product evaluation, with over 400 units currently on trial, he said. According to Ghosh, nearly three in four customers purchase Ironport's products after the evaluation process.
But while Ironport expects a ramp up in sales, revenue contribution from the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, to the company's overall figures is likely to remain constant at about 15 percent. The Americas contribute the bulk--60 percent--of the Calif.-headquartered company's global revenues.
Globally, IronPort is also experiencing rapid growth, said Ghosh. The four-year-old company registered US$75 million in revenues for 2005, and has plans for a public listing next year, he added.