TrustPort security products use highly efficient antivirus technology ranking among the top antivirus solutions in the world in terms of viruses and spyware detection. TrustPort products are offered in several languages and they protect companies and home users in over hundred countries.

Announcing the launch of TrustPort Middle East, Vladislav Němec, Chief Executive Officer of TrustPort, said: “The Middle East and Asia Pacific region is probably the most promising world market, with rapid growth in information technologies. We aim to establish our stable presence in the region. United Arab Emirates will be the focal point of TrustPort operations in the Middle East as it is well placed in terms of logistics. Our entry with an office here is the first step towards our expansion in the region.” 

“As part of our business strategy for the Middle East, we aim to establish a round-the-clock technical support hotline for this region,” said Roman Veleba, International Sales Manager at TrustPort. “This is to ensure a thorough and high-quality service is delivered to our customer base in this region. Any queries regarding product installation, configuration, and troubleshooting will be addressed to promptly.” The support centre will typically resolve a problem within twenty four hours. Based in the United Arab Emirates, the technical support centre will accommodate a strong support staff for twenty-four hour customer assistance.

TrustPort Middle East will take care of all business activities, including technical support, product manufacturing, distribution and shipping. “In particular, we will promote our endpoint products, TrustPort Antivirus and TrustPort PC Security, which provide the highest virus detection rates in the world. These products protect the computer at all its entry points, including internet connection and removable memory media,” Roman Veleba added.

TrustPort Antivirus Business and TrustPort PC Security Business, being the corporate versions of the basic products based on multiple scanning engines, offer the possibility of central management on multitude end stations in a company network. TrustPort USB Antivirus supplements the portfolio with an inexpensive and effective protection of removable memory media. 

TrustPort has developed an extensive partner network in all continents that distribute its products to both home and corporate clients. TrustPort global headquarters are located in Brno, second largest city of the Czech Republic, which is part of the European Union.

PC Security Labs was established over two years ago in Beijing. It is the only independent research lab from China, which so far became member of the international Anti Malware Testing Standards Organization, associating scientists, testers and producers in the field of computer security. PC Security Labs performs regular comparative testing but recently started also one product testing. Testing reports are available on its website, both in Chinese and in English.

The latest comparative by PC Security Labs included thirty antivirus products and security suites. The testing method consisted of scanning on demand, using a malware set and a clean set. The malware set represented around one thousand top threats in the region; the clean set included popular software, downloaded and purchased in China. Two variables were measured, malware detection rate and false positives rate. Based on these two measurements, the final score was calculated.

TrustPort PC Security achieved an average false positive rate. However, it once again demonstrated outstanding performance, as far as detection rate goes. The security suite identified 99.3% of the malware samples. Only three competing products ended up with higher detection. All the best known antivirus manufacturers of the world scored significantly worse than the top four.

“We are of course delighted by the results of the test,” says Vladislav Němec, chief executive officer of TrustPort. “Our development team has worked hard to take our antivirus technology this far. At the same time, software innovation is a never ending process, meant to satisfy the evolving demands of our clients.” The latest testing results can be seen as a continuation of achievements from the past. TrustPort antivirus technology has been successful in the tests performed by West Coast Labs, Virus Bulletin, and AV-Comparatives recently. As a matter of fact, TrustPort often takes the topmost place of the chart.

TrustPort PC Security and TrustPort Antivirus are suitable for both home and business customers. Under the names TrustPort PC Security Business and TrustPort Antivirus Business, perfect security solutions are available, offering antivirus, antispyware and antispam, everything centrally managed using a single web console. For the protection of whole networks against malware and spam, TrustPort Net Gateway is a great choice.

During normal internet communication the document recipient has no guarantee that the document really comes from that sender and that along the way it has not been altered by anyone. To solve this problem, electronic signature technology was developed. Although electronic signature is not a new technology, its implementation has not yet been widespread. Complexity and cost of available existing software solutions that enable electronic signing is the possible cause of this condition. TrustPort eSign Pro comes as a product, which is ideal for typical users who require reliable, convenient, and an economical solution.

This new solution has not been developed out of nowhere. “This new product is built on proven technology that we have been developing for many years”, said Petr Vaněk, head of development department at TrustPort. “It gives users a number of functions, which are available literally after a few mouse clicks. Signing or encrypting an electronic document can be done by anyone, regardless of the user experience.” The documents can be processed individually or collectively simply by highlighting them in the operating system and choosing the corresponding command from the contextual menu.

Quick and simple operation with documents is enabled by the signing and encryption wizard. This useful tool allows users to choose which particular operation they wish to do with the selected files. On offer are signing of documents, encryption of documents, time stamping of documents, and simultaneous signing and encryption. In the case of a received document, it takes care of its decryption and signature verification. Among other interesting options there is also the possibility multiple document signing by several users, or the creation of a signature separate from the document.

“Our new solution is suitable for communication with government authorities, for business correspondence, and even for private communication,” states Marcela Parolková (photo), head of sales department at TrustPort. “It guarantees the authenticity of the documents sent in terms of their authorship, and ensures their confidentiality from unwanted readers. Generally speaking, it enables secure communications in a risky environment, which the internet undoubtedly is. Therefore we believe that it will find many satisfied customers.”

Electronic signing is subject to owning a digital certificate. Here it depends on the specific customer needs which certificate to choose. For example, for communication with government authorities, one needs to choose a certificate issued by a state recognized certification authority. In contrast, for internal communication, a certificate issued by a company certification authority is sufficient. TrustPort eSign Pro generates a request for a user certificate, which then just needs to be sent to the selected certificate authority. After the issuance and acceptation of the certificate, it can be imported into a protected storage of TrustPort eSign Pro, which excludes the possibility of its theft and misuse.

Unique capabilities of TrustPort eSign are signing, encryption and time stamping of PDF documents, without the need to use expensive original software for editing of PDF. In addition, the recipient of the PDF document, signed and encrypted in this way, does not need any other software for its decryption and signature verification, other than the widespread free application available for reading PDF documents.

New CEO strengthens company’s strategic focus on service and international business

Paris – March 23, 2010.  NextiraOne, Europe’s leading expert in communications services, has appointed David Winn to lead the Group from April 2010. David joins NextiraOne as Chief Executive Officer in order to drive the company’s strategy for European growth, building on the success of the company since the management buy-out in 2006.

David Winn brings a wealth of experience gained with Boston Consulting Group in the USA and in Munich, followed by international executive roles with American Express France, IBM Europe and as CEO of the European telephone equipment and services provider, Tenovis. Following the acquisition of Tenovis by Avaya, he assumed the role of Vice President of Avaya Europe. Educated at Yale and Harvard Business School, David is fluent in English, French, German and Italian.

David’s appointment continues the group’s strategy of establishing NextiraOne as one of Europe’s leading communications companies. Under the leadership of Rafi Kouyoumdjian, NextiraOne has successfully built its brand as the Communications Experts and positioned itself as a recognised European service company with strong international service foundations and as a truly credible multi-vendor managed service partner.

David Winn replaces Rafi Kouyoumdjian as Chief Executive Officer from the beginning of April. Rafi will continue to be a major shareholder in the company – he leaves the NextiraOne Group to pursue other interests.

David Winn will head up the NextiraOne Group and its direct sales and service organisations in 17 countries across Europe, and an annual turnover of approximately €1 billion, making the company Europe’s leading expert in communications services. The company designs, installs, maintains and optimises solutions to meet its customers’ communications needs – from voice, data and video, to mobility, security and applications – for both public and private sector customers. The company’s strengths lie in its unequalled multi-vendor technology experience, the expertise of its people and its broad European reach. NextiraOne employs over 4,500 people, including more than 2,500 service experts.

The Ostrava-based team, employed by OKIN OUTSOURCING, will leverage the facility’s state-of-the-art technical capabilities to streamline and optimize its operational support, ultimately enhancing the service delivery experience of Verizon Business customers.

The facility was designed and built by Skanska, one of the world’s leading construction companies, and uses the latest techniques to maximize energy efficiency. The building is the first in the Czech Republic to be recognised under the European Union’s GreenBuilding certification scheme.

Chris Kimm (photo), vice president of EMEA network operations for Verizon Business, commented: “Building sustainable business operations is a key focus for Verizon Business, and we believe we have a responsibility to include environmental goals in our business planning.  We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations by increasing conservation of energy and recycling – for example, we require that new equipment used in our networks be at least 20 percent more efficient, and we were the first to establish a series of energy efficiency tests and ratings to guide our suppliers in this effort. But perhaps more importantly, our products and services enable our customers to be ‘greener’ and play an integral role in meeting their own sustainability goals.”

Skanska, a long-standing Verizon Business customer, uses the Verizon global IP network to link its operations and facilities around the globe. This enables new locations or geographies to be swiftly and easily brought online in support of Verizon Business’ global customer base. Kimm concluded: “This new facility gives just one more example of how green IT is becoming all-pervasive, but also of the co-dependencies to be found in the business world as companies work to achieve their green goals.”

Verizon Business has been working with the OKIN OUTSOURCING, part of OKIN GROUP, a.s. based in Ostrava, Czech Republic, since 2004, and plays a key role in the local business community. The team acts as an extension of Verizon Business’ global financial and technical services teams, and is fully integrated into the Verizon global network infrastructure.

After several years of experience in Germany, Patrik joined Capgemini in Austria in 1997, becoming the CEO of Capgemini Czech Republic in 2003 and a member of the Steering Committee for Eastern Europe.

At Deloitte, Patrik will focus on consulting development in the financial services industry in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With his IT orientation and knowledge in other industries, Patrik will make a strong contribution to expanding Deloitte’s service offering in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

A native of Slovakia, Patrik graduated from the Technical University of Dresden, majoring in technical cybernetics. After his studies and fellowships in Germany, Patrik joined Maculan Holding, an Austrian construction company in 1994. From 1997, he held managerial positions in the Capgemini advisory group.

Besides Czech and Slovak, Patrik is fluent in German and English. He is married with two children and his interests include international politics, travelling and skiing.

Former IBM And Intentia Manager Petr Felkner Will Drive Infor’s Growth Initiatives

Prague – March 4, 2010 – Infor, the leading provider of business software for mid-market customers, today announced that Petr Felkner (photo) has been appointed as new Country Manager for Infor’s business in the Czech Republic. Petr Felkner will be responsible for implementing Infor’s business strategy and driving business development in the Czech market, focusing both on traditional customer segments as well as new segments.

Petr Felkner has gathered profound experience in the information technology industry and specifically in the enterprise software market over the last 20 years. He worked for IBM ČR as Software Group Manager and as Managing Director at Intentia CZ, a former Swedish ERP vendor. Prior to joining Infor, he held a position at YMS Germany GmbH as Business Development Director. overseeing the business in Germany. Before that, he has been at YMS Czech Republic, s.r.o. (former GCWare) and at GCWare, s.r.o., as Director of Global Sales.

“We are very pleased to see Petr joining our Central European team as the head of our Czech business,” said Wolfgang Kobek, Vice President Central Europe, Infor. “His more than 20 years experience in the software business will help boosting Infor’s performance in the Czech Republic, which has been traditionally a strong market for Infor. Especially today, during the economical recovery, our customers are looking for innovations and support from a strong software partner that knows their industry requirements. Petr as our new country manager will see to this.”

Petr Felkner graduated at the Institute of Electrotechnics in Ilmenau (Germany), the faculty of technical cybernetics and automation technology with specialization in system technology and expert systems.

The engagement involves improvements to Telefónica O2 Czech Republic’s system for setting up customers’ fixed lines, including analysis of and enhancements to Telefónica O2’s customer provisioning system, technical assessment and upgrades of its user change request system, and improvements to its configuration management system, along with associated testing, documentation and other system integration services. As part of the project, Ness Technologies successfully deployed Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management to provide both a technical customer service catalogue and inventory as part of the end-to-end architecture.

In addition to greater efficiency and cost savings, the engagement is also providing a range of operational benefits to Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, including improved, guaranteed service operation; a new platform and work methodology that enable and enforce cooperation between different parts of the overall work team; and much more. Through the completion of the milestone in the two-year engagement, Ness has successfully fulfilled all the expectations of Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, completed the transfer of the know-how, and provided high quality and timely services according to the defined Service Level Agreement (SLA).

“We have partnered with Ness for over 5 years on various engagements and over that time Ness has consistently demonstrated that they are a professional, reliable and flexible supplier; and this is one of the reasons why Ness won this strategic outsourcing contract,” said Jiri Genzer, Provisioning System Manager at Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. “This engagement has allowed us to significantly improve efficiency, thanks to deep domain expertise at Ness.”

“We brought to Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, as with all of our customers, the three strategic factors which we believe characterize all Ness’ successful customer relationships: long-term strategic thinking directly related to underlying business issues, deep domain expertise sourced from around the world, and high value-added outsourcing of customer IT operations,” said Mirko Kalous (photo), general manager of Ness Czech. “As an international IT service provider with a strong regional presence, we are able to leverage thousands of experts worldwide for the benefit of our customers. We are happy that Telefónica O2 trusts the knowledge and experience we have provided during our five year partnership.”

According to a recent prognosis by IDC, spending in the field of information technologies will increase this year by 3.2% worldwide. More than a half of this growth should be generated in the so called new markets. The main drive of the growth will be the very promising markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. These countries alone should grow by 8 to 13% in the information technologies expenditures. Security software will be an integral part of the growth.

TrustPort is a security software producer based in the heart of Europe, in the city of Brno, renowned in the region for its support of innovative technologies. It has been developing an extensive partner network on all continents, reaching its products to both end users and corporate clients. India comes as a natural market for further business expansion of TrustPort. “We have watched with great interest the stable growth of information technologies in India,” explains Vladislav Němec. ”Our entrance to the market was just a matter of time, and the time is here.”

Reaching out to newer markets also means making provision for technical support. “We want our clients to feel that we care about their satisfaction,” reveals Roman Veleba, international sales manager at TrustPort Inc. “That is why we are establishing a round-the-clock support hotline at the technical support center in Hyderabad. Our clients may use the hotline for any questions regarding product installation, configuration, and troubleshooting.” Support center will typically resolve client’s problem within twenty four hours. “Hyderabad will be the hub for our operations,” adds Roman Veleba. “Besides technical support, product manufacturing, production and distribution will be done from Hyderabad. Hyderabad ranks high on our priority as this city offers pool of experienced networking and technical personnel besides its easy access to other parts of the country for logistical reasons.”

TrustPort has a wide product portfolio, suitable for the needs of diverse customers and diverse technologies. “Our primary focus in India will be TrustPort Antivirus, compact solution for personal computer protection, and TrustPort PC Security, comprehensive solution for versatile data protection,” says Vladislav Němec. “Both products provide antivirus, antispyware, and antispam protection; they guard the computer at all its entry points, including internet connection and removable memory media.”

These products use powerful antivirus technology, based on multiple scanning engines. Thanks to this technology, they regularly rank among the top antivirus solutions in the world, in terms of viruses and spyware detection.  Their counterparts, TrustPort Antivirus Business and TrustPort PC Security Business, offer in addition the possibility of central management on multiple workstations in a company network. TrustPort USB Antivirus supplements the portfolio with an inexpensive and effective protection of flash drives. 

TrustPort has market presence in almost sixty countries of the world, through its authorized partners. The aim of the company is to take advantage of its current comparative qualities and become a worldwide recognized alternative to the earlier established antivirus vendors.

From left to right: Vladislav Němec, chief executive officer of TrustPort, Roman Veleba, international sales manager at TrustPort, and Kiran Rao, country manager of TrustPort India

“Given the ongoing economic crisis, we were pleasantly surprised by the degree of contest participation. It has become quite clear from our discussions with entrepreneurs that the majority of them have come through this difficult test quite well. Indeed, many saw the crisis as an opportunity to strengthen their business,” notes Magdalena Souček, Country Managing Partner of Ernst & Young in the Czech Republic.

Winner profile
Eduard Kučera, ALWIL Software a.s.
Eduard Kučera and Pavel Baudiš founded ALWIL Software in 1991 as an association in order to independently develop and distribute the avast! anti-virus program. They quickly managed to break into all areas of the public and corporate spheres in Czechoslovakia and dominate the market. A major turning point came after the entry of global competitors. Loss of the market forced a transition to a new business model – the provision of avast! to home users free of charge. The product only had to be purchased by companies and home users if they wanted. Thanks to this innovative approach, the company succeeded in creating a massive worldwide community of users with which they collaborate to improve and localize avast! in many languages – avast! is currently available in 33 versions. ALWIL Software is expanding its product portfolio to include complete computer security.

Its maximum use of all available technologies and automation allows the company to serve 100 million users worldwide with “a mere” 100 employees. That’s also why it generates turnover of half a billion and is growing at a double-digit rate. Thanks to the high quality of its program, some 400 thousand people download from ALWIL Software servers daily. Eduard Kučera strives to have machines (servers) do as much of the work as possible, freeing up his employees’ time for creativity and innovation and making his company more effective and productive.

The other Entrepreneur Of The Year Finalists were:
Stanislav Bernard, Rodinný pivovar Bernard a.s.
Zdeněk Jahoda, EMCO spol s.r.o.
Libor Mertl, Martin Málek , ComAp, spol. s r.o.
Ferid Nasr, EXIM Tours a.s.
Josef Šmíd, Rosso Steel, a.s.
 
The title Emerging Entrepreneur Of The Year, awarded to an entrepreneur who has been in business less than five years, was won by Jan Zeman of Biopekárna Zemanka, which hand-produces organic cookies and crackers. “Only when I went into business for myself did I start to feel I was doing something meaningful. One reason I went into the organic food business was to destroy the myth that organic food isn’t good. I also wanted to bring organic food to more consumers,” says Jan Zeman, adding: “In the last two years our bakery has grown almost 100% annually, so I believe organic is really coming into its own.”
 
The winner of this year’s general Entrepreneur Of The Year title, Eduard Kučera of ALWIL Software a.s., also won the title of Technology Entrepreneur Of The Year.
 
For the sixth time this year, an award was presented to the Social Entrepreneur Of The Year of the Czech Republic; the 2009 winner was Emilie Smrčková of the citizens’ association Pod křídly. The aim of this organisation is to provide children in institutional or foster care with an apartment of their own once they reach the age of majority, and to give them a helping hand finding work or study opportunities and becoming integrated into society.
 
 “Yesterday’s award has tremendous personal meaning for me. It serves as an acknowledgment that we have taken the right path and an incentive to continue in our work,” says Smrčková, adding: “The main reason I founded the association some ten years ago was to operate residences with living conditions that are as “normal” as possible and unlike those in a children’s home. Every young person must be given a chance – what they do with it is up to them.”
 
“This year, we’re entering the second decade of this competition, which shows there’s no shortage of talented entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic and that business can be conducted successfully in any field here. We mustn’t forget that hard work, unwavering faith in one’s vision and talent, and the ability to successfully follow through with things are key factors in entrepreneurial success. Our primary interest in conducting the contest is to further support the development of entrepreneurship in our country. We believe this year’s winner shares this notion with us and will actively support entrepreneurship; his award will be a boon for him and those around him,” says Magdalena Souček.
 
Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009 contest was open to a company owner or manager with at least a 25% or greater stake in the company. The individual must be responsible for company performance and be an active member of top management. The company must be at least 2 years old.