Satcom subsidizes Sophos prices in India

Satcom Technologies, the newly-appointed Sophos distributor in India, is
subsidizing the company’s anti-virus packs by 25 percent for channel partners.
A 25-user pack for one year will cost Rs 1,500 per user, instead of Rs 2,000.

Similarly packs sold to educational institutions will be made available at 60
percent less than the actual price. Says Vinod Kumar, Director, Satcom
Technologies, "We will give the products at only 40 percent of the actual
price to partners who sell to educational institutions. Partners can, however,
sell the same packs at the MRP price mentioned on them. This means they get a
margin of at least 60 percent in effect."

Satcom hopes that this aggressive pricing strategy will help it make inroads
into the Indian enterprise market. "At the moment, brand awareness for the
product is very low, though it is technically superior. We are confident that
once we get users to buy this product, we will be able to retain them as loyal
customers."

In a bid to make the products easily available, Satcom is currently
appointing channel partners to sell Sophos. "We hope to appoint at least 20
dealers within the next six months," says Vinod.

Satcom is cashing on its existing service network to give it the upper hand
in selling Sophos products. It has already set up a centralized service center
with online and telephone help desk at Hyderabad.

VINITA BHATIA