Gem sparkles in Panda's antivirus drive

Panda Software has appointed distributor Gem to spearhead its attack on retail and corporate antivirus markets.

Panda Software has appointed distributor Gem to spearhead its attack on retail and corporate antivirus markets.

The Spanish vendor said the move would help it achieve its aim of taking at least 10 per cent of the UK antivirus market by the end of 2001.

When Panda first entered the market last year it had planned to sell direct, according to Jilly Rhodes, the company's UK sales and marketing director. However, she said it became apparent that this would not achieve volume sales. "You need to be out there in front of customers, which is what Gem will be helping us to do," she said. The vendor is in talks with other broadline distributors, including Computer 2000 and Ideal Hardware, she added.

Panda also intends to introduce a manufacturing operation in the UK by the end of the year to reduce sales lead times, said Rhodes.

Paul Donnelly, managing director of Gem, said that although the distributor is relatively new to selling in the antivirus market its decision to support Panda is down to customer feedback. "We reject 15 companies a week, so we wouldn't have put it in if there wasn't a demand for it," he said.

Donnelly said three retailers have already said that they will support the product.

The article was first published in 12 April issue of Computer Reseller News