Winternals Software Expands European Reseller Channel, Emphasizes Increased International Presence.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 2002

Winternals Software finalized agreements with Progel S.r.l. and MKW Trading GmbH that provide these companies with rights to distribute Winternals products in Italy and Switzerland, respectively.

These relationships are the latest in a series of moves that Winternals is embarking upon in order to increase its presence outside of North America. As part of this strategy, the company also hired new employees both domestically and overseas.

"In 2001 our European revenue nearly doubled as a result of new sales channels," said Edwin Brasch, president and CEO of Winternals Software. "Our goal is to improve on this trend. We anticipate that international sales will increase by four times between now and the end of 2004, and that overseas sales will account for 25% of total annual revenue by the end of 2004."

To meet these objectives, Winternals recently added Nils Silfverschiold as managing director of Winternals, Europe. Silfverschiold is based in Prague, Czech Republic. He will manage Winternals' current European distributors, and will help establish additional partnerships in Europe.

Winternals also hired Rich Ritzema as director, International. Ritzema is located at the company's Austin, Texas, headquarters. He will oversee all of Winternals' international business ventures, including supervising Silfverschiold's European initiatives, managing Winternals' distributors in Asia Pacific, and identifying suitable value-added partners throughout the world.

"Winternals Software is on track to grow domestic revenue by nearly 35% in 2002," Brasch said. "We've marketed extensively in North America and have achieved remarkable results despite the current economy. We're looking to our best-in-class products and a string of successful domestic marketing campaigns to help leverage even faster expansion overseas."

Progel and MKW Trading will directly market, sell, and support Winternals' products in their countries. Winternals now has distributors located in eight nations -- Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and Japan.

"The Windows XP/2000/NT server market is growing rapidly in Switzerland," said Andras Kiss of MKW Trading. "Concurrent with this increase in servers has been a need to keep these systems running. Winternals products give our customers the ability to reduce the time spent repairing unbootable systems, while also saving data and money. And these products will only become more important in the future."

Winternals will now set its sights on expansion into Asia Pacific -- specifically Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. This region is home to a large amount of corporations with a high installation of Windows XP/2000/NT systems -- the very market that Winternals targets. Then, the next phase will be a push into Mexico and South America.

By expanding internationally, Winternals is speeding the time to market for its software, while also adapting to meet the needs of an evolving market. Winternals' customer base runs on the Windows XP/2000/NT platform, installations of which are steadily rising outside of the United States.

Winternals develops repair, recovery and performance utilities. These products have worldwide appeal because they provide immediate and lasting value for administrators of Windows XP/2000/NT systems.

Despite the stagnant worldwide economy, Brasch believes that now is a perfect time to venture further into the international space.

"It's a rough economy, so many companies are choosing to ignore things that are difficult to manage, like international expansion," he said. "I believe that international markets give us immense new opportunities. The fact that we've grown our domestic business at a time when so many other software companies are struggling suggests that we can succeed outside of North America as well. This is a great time to capitalize on our potential."

About Winternals Software

Founded in 1996 by Bryce Cogswell, Ph.D., and Mark Russinovich, Ph.D., Winternals Software is based in Austin, Texas, where it provides Windows XP/2000/NT administration tools to enterprises worldwide. Winternals Software is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner best known for industry-standard repair and recovery utilities that allow systems administrators to minimize downtime and data loss on Windows systems.