A party in a dome in Rome.

Ciao folks!

After Munich, I headed almost directly south to Rome for a few days full of intense business activity. For there was a lot going on down there for KL…

First and foremost it was our Italian office’s tenth birthday! What? Already? A decade? Where did that go? So, of course, it was celebration time: we gathered together our partners, favorite customers and old friends for a jubilee jamboree, and it was just great!

Many happy returns KL Italy. Here’s to the next 10 years! Saluti!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoOV5C1Abs_

To be honest, due to a whirl of business meetings I never did find out exactly where in Rome our bash took place. Not that it mattered: everywhere in the Eternal City is magnificent.

10 years is impressive, of course. But our presence in Italy actually goes back quite a way before a decade ago.

Our first Italian partners appeared way back in 1994 (that’s not typo folks; nineteen ninety four!). Then, toward the middle of the 2000s, our partner network had reached that point where a local support office was needed. So, in June 2008, we ceremoniously opened one in the capital.

Since then our presence in Italy has become increasingly noticeable: our share of the personal products market here is now greater than 50% (hurray! And cincin to that!). Our share of the corporate market here is more modest, but that means we’ve more room for maneuver to get stronger in it. Plus there’s huge interest in industrial security and our secure OS.

In short: work, work, work. But during the breaks – aaaaah rooftop, nighttime Rome: sublime!

Modern kunst on the walls of the hotel and in the lobby. It seems modern art is following me all around Europe!

More work: at the yearly Cybertech conference (IT security startups wanting to enter the Italian market should start off here, btw), I gave a speech on the stage, then headed over to our stand.

And that’s all from Rome folks. Next up: another southern European country that’s big on the history and heritage. But more on that another day…