Symantec's software-as-service offering will soon be available to customers in the Asia-Pacific region, company executives in the region told ZDNet Asia Thursday.
According to Yeong Chee Wai, Symantec's regional director for product marketing and management in the Asia-Pacific, the Symantec Protection Network will be rolled out in the Asia-Pacific region "soon". However, he did not disclose a more definite timeframe.
Symantec, added Yeong, will offer the service in countries with good broadband infrastructure, and where bandwidth cost and availability is not a problem.
Bernard Kwok, senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific and Japan at Symantec, said the Symantec Protection Network was launched last year in the United States to help customers perform "backup and recovery on the network, in the cloud".
The service, which is Symantec's first SaaS offering, is targeted at small and midsize businesses.
Explaining the lag in bringing the service to Asia, Kwok pointed out that there are "multiple elements" that Symantec has to consider before introducing a service in the cloud. They include government receptivity, compliance policies and privacy laws, and customer readiness.
But while many Asian countries, such as Singapore, are "more ready" in moving toward SaaS, Symantec will be opting for a phased approach, he said.
"We don't want to just jump right in because our guts tell us so," said Kwok. "We want to continue to explore; this (SaaS) is one area that we are optimistic about."
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