NW_20010823_en_VASCO Opens Sales Office in Sydney Australia to Leverage Growth of Australian e-Commerce Initiatives
OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. and BRUSSELS, Belgium – August 23, 2001 – VASCO (Nasdaq NM & Nasdaq Europe: VDSI; www.vasco.com), a global provider of security solutions that enable e-business and e-commerce, has announced the opening of a new sales office in Sydney, Australia- the financial and commercial market center of the country. In addition to the sales and R&D center in Brisbane, resulting from VASCO’s acquisition of Australian software firm Identikey earlier in the year, the Sydney office will further support and leverage the company’s already considerable install base in the region, which includes remote banking and corporate network customers such as Austereo, Richard Ellis, Mortgage Choice, Granny May's, Blake Dawson Waldron, the Queensland Department of Transport, and BytePower.
Australia currently represents the second largest IT market in the Asia/Pacific region, one of the fastest growing internet regions in the world. Gartner Dataquest analysts recently projected that the number of internet subscribers in the region will increase from 78 million in 2000 to 248 million by 2005, to become the world’s largest internet market.
“Internet subscriber growth in Asia/Pacific will offer a key market for Australian businesses implementing e-commerce initiatives to capture new customers and expand their products and services,” explains Mario Houthooft, President and CEO of VASCO. “But IDC recently advised Australian businesses that security is a core requirement rather than a value-add for companies implementing e-business and e-commerce operations. VASCO enables businesses to securely and successfully achieve their e-commerce objectives by ensuring the authenticity and authorization of users accessing networks and applications and securing data and transactions over any platform.” Houthooft adds, “Currently, more than six million users in over 50 countries safely perform e-business with VASCO products, from financial institutions to government agencies to corporations.”
As Australian businesses continue to advance their e-commerce initiatives, they are expected to increase security spending. IDC predicts a compound annual growth rate of 48% for such spending from 2000-2005, reaching more than A$1,400 million. The AAA security (Authentication, Authorization, Administration) market, VASCO’s market, is expected to see the most significant growth with a forecast of A$1040 million- achieving a 54% compound annual growth rate over the same five year period.
“Australian businesses that are investigating security and technologies that will enhance their e-commerce initiatives will find that VASCO is successful in offering flexible and affordable e-business and e-commerce security solutions to the world’s fastest growing and most aggressive markets worldwide,” states Jan Valcke, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for VASCO. “Therefore, we expect our Sydney sales office to accelerate our revenue growth for our Digipassâ and VACMANâ families of authentication, authorization, and administration security products.”
About VASCO
VASCO secures the enterprise from the mainframe to the Internet with infrastructure solutions that enable secure e-business and e-commerce, protect sensitive information, and safeguard the identity of users. The Company's family of Digipass® and VACMAN® products offers end-to-end security through strong authentication and digital signature, enterprise Single Sign-On, and LAN security, while sharply reducing the time and effort required to deploy and manage security. VASCO's customers include hundreds of financial institutions, blue-chip corporations, and government agencies in more than 50 countries. More information is available at www.vasco.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements made in this news release that relate to future plans, events or performances are forward-looking statements. Any statement containing words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” and similar words, is forward-looking, and these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements.
Reference is made to the Company's public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for further information regarding the Company and its operations.
For more information contact:
Media:
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Annemieke Blondeel, USA +1 630 932 8844, Europe +44 20 8308 7080, [email protected]