BitDefender, the security division of the Romanian company Softwin, estimates to reach sales worth 10 million dollars (8.2 million euros) this year on the United States IT market, Cosmin Mares, communication director of Softwin told ZF. “Part of this amount will go to our partners,” Mares explained. BitDefender opened an office in the US in May 2005. “Investments to open the branch stood at over one million dollars, to which marketing investments were added, to help us enter the market”, Bogdan Irina, marketing and sales manager of BitDefender told ZF. He added that less than a year from its opening, the branch had already passed the break-even point. North America will become a very important target for BitDefender in the following period, the BitDefender official explained. “As part of this effort, we estimate to open at least another office (in California) in the second half of 2006 to have better coverage in the United States,” said Irina. The American branch of the company has some 20 employees in the sales department, with Bogdan Irina estimating they will reach 30 by the end of the year. ZF