Stonesoft : a new Finnish firm in Sophia Antipolis

A new phenomenon : Finnish people arrive in force on the French Riviera and in particular in Sophia Antipolis. After Trema Laboratories (about one hundred people), after RTS Networks whose goal is to reach the number of 70 people by the end of the year 2000 and 400 to 600 people within three or four years , another Finnish firm is announced. Its name : Stonesoft, it is one of the great specialists of security solutions on the web, which decided to set up in Sophia Antipolis a center of research and development. This setting-up presents a high development prospect : 25 engineers within 6 months and about 40 by the three comming years. The Sophia Antipolis center will be managed by Petteri Heng.Created in Helsinki in 1990 by Ilkka Hiidenheimo and quoted on the stock exchange since April 1999, stonesoft experiences a very important growth by now : plus 100% for the last accounting year with a turnover which would reach 150 million francs this year. The firm staff , according to the expansion, went from 100 to 200 employees in less than 8 months.