Sophos Expands Customer Support Center in Ottawa and Partners With Willis College to Create Talent Pipeline for Cyber-Security Jobs in Canada

OTTAWA, QC--(Marketwired - Dec 2, 2015) - Sophos (LSE: SOPH), a global leader in network and endpoint security, today announced that it is expanding its technical support center in Ottawa to support customers across North America, and has invested with Willis College to create a best-in-class cyber-security education program to help address the current cyber-security skills shortage.

Sophos' investment includes the establishment of a new network security training lab at Willis College's Ottawa campus, in addition to supporting program direction, technical curriculum development and training assistance. Building upon OECD job creation best practices, which encourage employers to develop training opportunities with local colleges, the Sophos and Willis College partnership is expected to advance the next generation of cyber security careers in Canada.

"Employers, more than ever, need specific skills in their employees to remain competitive on a local or increasingly global stage, and yet many companies have been cutting back rather than investing in the future," said Bruce Lazenby, president and CEO of Invest Ottawa. "This is a great example of a partnership between leading, forward-thinking companies like Sophos and world-class schools like Willis College to drive and create new skills in our workforce."

"Willis College is extremely excited about the new Sophos partnership and the benefits that it will bring to the careers of our graduates and our community. The greater opportunity for skills training is that this best practice model can be replicated within other sectors cross Canada," said Rima Aristocrat, president and CEO of Willis College.

Sophos expects to almost double the size of its support center in Ottawa over the next six months as the company expands operations to support a fast-growing customer base in North America.

"Ottawa is a very attractive place for Sophos to invest," said Michael Anderson, senior vice president of global support and services for Sophos. "The workforce is culturally diverse, and the city is business and family friendly, which helps us to find and retain talented individuals. Willis College has a great reputation for supporting private industry and developing programs that teach students the valuable skills and qualifications required for positions that we have open today. Our relationship with Willis College and with Ottawa will also enable Sophos to expand our investments in the future."

The Ottawa center is one of two support facilities that Sophos operates in Canada, having delivered best-in-class channel partner support and Sophos Labs research from its center in Vancouver since 2003. Sophos has also operated a sales office in Toronto since 2007.

About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos' complete security solutions as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Simple to deploy, manage and use, Sophos' award-winning encryption, endpoint security, Web, email, mobile and network security solutions are backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, UK, and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol "SOPH." More information is available at www.sophos.com.

About Willis College
As one of Canada's longest standing private career college established in 1896, Willis College has been a leader in innovative skills training within the public, private sector, Aboriginal community including information technology, business and healthcare. Willis College is headquartered in the nation's capital, Ottawa. More information may be found at www.williscollege.com