PatchLink opens Sydney office

US-based patch management software vendor PatchLink has opened an office in Sydney as part of an Asia-Pacific ramp-up of its presence and channel.

Neal Gemassmer, managing director for PatchLink Asia-Pacific, said the company opened an office in Sussex Street in central Sydney on 10 May.

"PatchLink is doing a multi-pronged investment strategy into the Asia-Pacific," he said.

The vendor -- which made patch management offerings for diverse vendors, including Microsoft and Novell -- was opening a regional headquarters in Singapore and new offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong as well as Sydney, Gemassmer said.

PatchLink was also developing its two-tier distribution approach and adding sales and technical resources locally, under new Australasian sales director Peter Marini, over the next quarter, he said.

Fulfillment would be through distribution, with a new distributor to be announced shortly, he said.

"Today, we're working with a number of resellers and [resourcing] a new channel in Australia and New Zealand," Gemassmer said. "We've [also] been working with a number of system integrators."

PatchLink was also available through Novell's authorised partner community, he said.

"The channel is crucial to our success," he added. "The strategy is very much to educate the marketplace and ensure we have a channel in place, particularly around our Gold and Platinum partners."

Chris Andrew, product management vice-president at PatchLink, said the vendor's flagship software, PatchLink Update, helped users identify patch-related and non-patch-related vulnerabilities.

PatchLink offerings could be individually scripted, so targeted users' individual needs, he said.

"There are lots of tools where you do a patch and kind of hope for the best. But our approach is best practice-driven. When you need a patch, we also test the patch. And we also actually script every patch for you," Andrew said.

Australian customers so far included the City of Sydney and the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex that worked for NASA, he said.