Press Release
Stonesoft reinforces its position in France and confirms its ambitions in this market
The Parisian sales team is consolidated, in addition to the existing product development center in Sophia Antipolis
Paris, January 19, 2006 - Stonesoft, an innovative provider of integrated network security and business continuity solutions, is expanding its French sales structure in order to enforce its position in the key local target markets, such as healthcare, finance, government organizations and services. Stonesoft recently appointed Léonard Dahan as Country Manager France, and moved its sales team into new premises in Paris (Levallois-Perret). This way, Stonesoft is reinforcing its direct customer touch through its Sales and Presales Executives, as well as its value-added partner network.
Stonesoft also has had a product development center in Sophia Antipolis since 2000, which makes France a highly strategic country for the development of expertise and solutions, as well as the follow-on of their growth. Today, Stonesoft France employs more than 20 persons and has engagement with prestigious client references in the French market.
"We are now able to establish a very efficient sales and support for our current and future clients ", says Léonard Dahan, Country Manager, France. " The high market demand for network security and business continuity solutions, as well as the remarkable competitiveness and robustness of our product offering, give me full confidence in our business growth in France. As a matter of fact, I am already planning to double our sales staff this year."
A new and successful worldwide sales strategy
The reinforcement of Stonesoft’s French activities is part of the global strategic changes initiated by the new Finland-based management board appointed at the end of 2004. These changes consisted in major reorganizations and investments to the business structures and processes of the company. During the last year, Stonesoft restructured its go-to-market model, more than doubled its sales resources, and restructured its marketing operations.
As a result, today Stonesoft has developed active demand and lead generation with the new Direct Touch Sales and Presales Executives, who complement the mission of the Senior Sales and Presales Executives managing the sales cycle with Stonesoft’s channel partners. These operations are supported by targeted marketing actions directed to the end-users.
This new sales strategy has rapidly proven to be successful, as Stonesoft’s StoneGate sales growth during the last year was 24 %.
New address of Stonesoft France
120 rue Jean Jaurès - 92300 Levallois-Perret FRANCE
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 47 56 20 87
About Stonesoft
Stonesoft Corporation is an innovative provider of integrated network security and business continuity. Stonesoft is a global company focused on enterprise level customers requiring advanced network security and always-on business connectivity with low TCO, best price-to-performance ratio, and highest ROI. StoneGate™ Security Platform unifies firewall, VPN and IPS into a unified and centrally managed system for distributed enterprises.
Founded in 1990, Stonesoft Corporation has corporate headquarters in Helsinki, Finland; Americas headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia; and Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore. For more information about Stonesoft Corporation and its products and services, please visit www.stonesoft.com.
Press contacts :
Pauline Moreau
Open2Europe – Relations Presse
Tel. : +33 (0) 1 55 02 14 52
p.moreau@open2europe.com
Outi Torniainen, Marketing & Communication Manager
Stonesoft Corporation
Tel. +358-9-476711
Email: outi.torniainen@stonesoft.com
Thursday, January 19, 2006