Frankfurt, Germany, 14 September 2005 Qualys, the leader in on demand vulnerability management and policy compliance, opened today its first Secure Operations Centre (SOC) in Europe. The centre the first of its type in Europe underscores Qualys commitment to the European market and the growing significance of vulnerability management in the region. Enterprises and institutions across Europe are implementing vulnerability management at an accelerating rate to protect their critical assets, comply with new security regulations and enable the growth of their organisations.
"Qualys Software as a Service, or on demand solution, has allowed us to deploy Vulnerability Management as one important building block of our IT risk management process across the global network in a record time. This is because the unique combination of a secure operation with remotely managed appliances eliminates the costs and complexity associated with the deployment and management of software in multiple locations, said Andreas Wuchner-Bruehl, Head of Global IT Security at Novartis AG. The building of a secure operation centre in Europe is a clear sign of Qualys commitment to the European market and of the success of their model."
Managing networks is not just about ensuring reliability; it is about providing security and openness to customers, partners and suppliers, said Philippe Courtot, Chairman and CEO of Qualys. It is also about guaranteeing confidentiality and integrity of data to satisfy business requirements and regulatory compliance. Understanding a networks potential vulnerabilities, establishing regular audits, prioritizing remediation and ensuring compliance to internal and external regulations all once very costly and difficult if not impossible to achieve on a global scale are now possible using a Software as a Service model.
The new European Secure Operations Centre extends the benefits of on demand vulnerability management to a new range of European organisations, particularly to those in certain sectors, where companies and agencies face strict rules about data being stored outside the EEC. The combination of a central data centre, with remotely managed appliances and a fully on demand service, is the only practical way for large enterprises to deploy vulnerability management on a global basis and the most cost effective solution for smaller organisations to deploy vulnerability management for their networks. This approach has already been experiencing considerable uptake with European sales revenues for Qualys increasing 90% last year and with more than 600 subscribers across Europe.
