L-R: Kevin Kim (general manager, Kiwontech), Hau Phan (COO, Vnetwork).
South Korean email security provider Kiwontech has joined forces with Vietnamese content delivery network provider Vnetwork to establish Vnetkiwon Security, a new Vietnam-based cyber player.
The joint venture is aimed at seeing Kiwontech obtain a foothold in the Southeast Asian market.
Specifically, the South Korean company plans to use the joint venture as a platform for commercialising its global email security standard in Vietnam as well as other countries across the local region.
It is hoped the new entity will become a leading IT enterprise in the field of security in cyberspace, according to Vnetwork.
Moreover, both organisations plan to take advantage of each other’s strengths in the research and development of comprehensive IT security solutions for their respective international partners.
Kiwontech and Vnetwork inked their new partnership on 10 November, marking a new milestone in an ongoing journey of cooperation between the two companies, which have been partners since 2017.
As a first step, the new entity plans to secure the operating and sales networks necessary to enable the commercialisation of its email security standard technology in Southeast Asia.
Additionally, the company is set to increase the reliability of its joint security services, accelerate market growth and offer additional services through the clients of Vnetwork.
It also aims to strengthen its business competency by looking for new business opportunities in Vietnam and neighboring countries, in the process equipping itself with the competitiveness necessary for a network services provider looking to dominate markets in Southeast Asia.
"The joint venture will serve as a stepping-stone for Kiwontech to become a leader in the commercialisation of information security standard technology across Southeast Asia,” said Kim Chung Han, a team leader with Kiwontech. “Kiwontech's existing email security standard technology will lay the foundation for the company's rapid penetration into emerging markets.”
The joint venture between the two companies was established as part of the Born2Global Centre's partnership program. Founded in September 2013, Born2Global is a major Korean government agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) that contributes to the national startup ecosystem.
Kiwontech was involved in a separate joint venture in 2018 that enabled the founding of Singapore-based Connectivity Global, which provides integrated email security management solutions on cloud and on-premises.
Upon its creation in 2018, the company announced plans to bring its artificial intelligence (AI) enabled email security system to market through regional distributor Innovix, reaching over 5,500 resellers across Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
