COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Secunia, the leading provider of IT security solutions that enable businesses and private individuals to manage and control vulnerability threats, today announced that the company has expanded operations in North America and with that, has appointed Neil Butchart as Vice President to lead the company's new North American office, based in Minneapolis, MN.

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Butchart brings more than two decades of technology sales and executive leadership experience to Secunia.  Prior to joining Secunia, Butchart spent more than seven years as Managing Director, EMEA, for Shavlik Technologies (acquired by VMware) where under his leadership the company experienced significant growth in new product revenues and helped secure many of the largest enterprise wins in the company's history.

"Over the last two years, we have experienced solid and consistent growth with our vulnerability management solutions in the North American market – a third of our revenue is now  generated there - and it became evident that we needed to add additional leadership and support to effectively and strategically manage and expand these efforts. So far, we have been able to build a sustainable US business out of Copenhagen, and I am confident that taking this next step and getting our feet on the ground will further support the success of our US endeavor," said Thomas Zeihlund, CEO of Secunia.  "Neil is a respected and accomplished business leader who has a great track record in building top-notch customer management and channel sales teams, something of critical importance as we look toward continued success and market leadership in the North American market."

Minneapolis was ultimately selected as the preferred Secunia US HQ over other major US cities for a number of compelling reasons.  The region has a high number of existing Secunia customers and a significant concentration of large enterprises using Microsoft SCCM/CM12 which is highly relevant for Secunia's SCCM solution integration, in light of the recent partnership between Secunia and SCCM-specialized IT solution provider Coretech. The availability of significant industry resources and software expertise in the Twin Cities area will be valuable for Secunia, enabling the company to tap into industry activities, be closer to analysts and have additional platforms to share research on. Additionally, the company can engage more closely in the work surrounding compliance laws and regulations in the US.

According to Secunia's latest Yearly Report  the number of vulnerabilities affecting typical end-points increased once again in 2011 to over 800 vulnerabilities, tripling within only a few years, with more than half of which were rated by Secunia as either 'Highly critical' or 'Extremely critical'.  Enterprises worldwide have come to rely on Secunia's solutions, integrating them into their IT-security operations, to ensure the security state of their corporate networks, and ease the operations of their often large and complex IT infrastructure.

"At the end of the day, if organizations fail to effectively protect their endpoints, all other security efforts throughout the enterprise become useless," says Butchart.  "Secunia's solutions have earned the respect and trust of enterprises worldwide and I look forward to the opportunity to further build on this in working with these customers and many more to 'stay secure'."

Currently more than 1,500 enterprises worldwide from industries such as financial services, healthcare, government, education and energy rely on Secunia's Vulnerability Intelligent Manager (VIM) and the intelligent patch management solutions, including Secunia's Corporate Software Inspector (CSI), for the protection of their endpoints and networks against cyber threats and attacks.

About Secunia

Founded in 2002, Secunia is the leading provider of IT security solutions that help businesses and private individuals globally manage and control vulnerability threats, risks across their networks, and end-points. This is enabled by Secunia's award-winning Vulnerability Intelligence, Vulnerability Assessment, and Patch Management solutions that ensure optimal and cost-effective protection of critical information assets.

Secunia plays an important role in the IT security ecosystem, and is the preferred supplier for enterprises and government agencies worldwide, counting Fortune 500 and Global 2000 businesses among its customer base. Secunia is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

For more information, please visit secunia.com

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SOURCE Secunia