Kaspersky Lab: Americas Revenue Tops $100 Million
Small but growing super-fast in the security software market. That’s the best way to describe Kaspersky Lab’s revenues in the Americas market, where sales have grown from $2 million in 2005 to more than $100 million in 2009, the company revealed at the Kaspersky Lab Americas conference. So, what’s driving that growth — and can Kaspersky maintain its channel-centric focus? Here are some clues from the conference, continuing today in the Dominican Republic.
“If you look at the security market back in 2005, there was perception anti-malware was a commodity,” says Steve Orenberg, president of Kaspersky Lab, Americas. “The other players weren’t doing much to counter the argument.”
Industry insiders understood that Kaspersky had a premium product, Orenberg asserts. “And from the business perspective, success was all about the channel,” he adds. “There are a lot end-users who look for alternatives when their [security subscription] ends. The channel is the avenue we need to reach end-users who are dissatisfied for whatever reason with their current vendor.”
So far, that strategy seems to be working well. Worldwide, Kaspersky Lab’s revenues appear to have hit around (US)$450 million in 2009, up from about (US)$350 million in 2008, according to a graphic displayed at the conference. Also, global head count grew from 884 in 2007 to 1700 in 2009.
Channel Moves and Competitors
Looking ahead, Kaspersky Lab says it intends to maintain a pure, channel-centric focus to compete against McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro. And the company continues to expand its channel partner team, including recent hire Nancy Reynolds, a Trend Micro and Dell veteran.
“I can look every partner in the eye and say we’ve never taken a deal direct,” says Orenberg. “We have no intention of being anything but 100% channel.”
In some ways, Orenberg’s pure channel-centric messaging sounds similar to statements from Sophos — another fast-growing security software company. On that point, The VAR Guy needs to do some more digging to describe what makes Kaspersky Lab and Sophos different.
In the meantime, our resident blogger is heading back into conference sessions at the Kaspersky Lab Americas Annual Partner Conference.
Its nice to hear, “I can look every partner in the eye and say we’ve never taken a deal direct,” says Orenberg. “We have no intention of being anything but 100% channel.”
It appears to be a winning business model strategy for Kaspersky while in rapid market growth mode. I suspect it will be a good ride for channel partners till they dominate their market share potential. I doubt that someone asked the question, “What happens when we get there?” And doubt that Orenberg would comment about any long range strategic business model changes at this time. So for now enjoy the ride and when they do look you in the eye and make a statement like this, remind them that you will hold them to it.