Kaspersky plans local R&D effort

Russian IT security vendor Kaspersky Lab today unveiled plans to establish an Australian presence, including local security researchers, to better support customers and partners in the region.

CEO: Eugene Kaspersky
(Credit: Kaspersky Lab)

Flanked by the company's co-founder and chief executive Eugene Kaspersky, who revealed similar plans in Malaysia over the past week, the group's new Australian chief Alexey Gromyko told reporters this morning that the local office would be rolled out over the next four to eight weeks.

Initially Kaspersky will focus its resources in Melbourne, with plans to hire an initial 10 to 15 people to assist local partners and distributors, especially in the area of technical support, which the company will take back in-house locally after using an outsourcer. However, it will maintain its channel sales model, with no plans to offer direct sales of its software.

One of the company's first tasks in Australia will be to hire a local security researcher and anti-malware expert, with Kaspersky saying the firm was aiming to establish a local research and development team.

The security firm, which was founded in 1997 and competes with larger and older multinationals such as Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro, will look to expand its local workforce to between 20 and 30 over the next two to three years, Gromyko said.

Kaspersky said his firm was expanding internationally quite rapidly, with plans for offices right around the globe, including Dubai, Miami, Italy, Spain and more.