A month after selling its Kaspersky business, distributor C-MI Labs has signed up with another anti-virus vendor in the form of BitDefender.

Surrey-based C-MI becomes BitDefender’s fourth UK distributor alongside Interactive Ideas, Security IP and Focus Multimedia.

CMI chairman Stuart Tidy claimed that people are looking for an alternative to the established big brands.

“End user customers are taking notice of the comparative test results and are becoming much more discerning about their internet security,” he said. “We are part of the process and we have looked closely at products that are likely to give us the best return for 2010.”

BitDefender country manager, Nick Billington said: “This agreement with C-MI Labs is central to our strategy for going forward with channel partners who can offer the expertise to support national distribution that can reach resellers and the business network specialists.”

CMI sold its business with Russian anti-virus challenger Kaspersky to Wick Hill in September, claiming it had developed the product to an appropriate level of maturity.