By Alison Diana E-Commerce Times Part of the ECT News Network
10/18/04 5:00 AM PT
"We've had a focus on education because we felt if we could demonstrate to the marketplace that we could sit in the wildest of environments, it would demonstrate true security functionality," said DeepNines President Dan Jackson. "At universities you would not believe the spike in traffic and the spike in malicious traffic when school comes back in service."
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With their bottom lines and corporate reputations at risk, many security
professionals, tired of being able only to react to viruses and worms, are looking for ways to prevent degradation and infection.
Worms and viruses cost organizations billions of dollars and hundreds of
man-hours. Spam has grown to represent between 60 percent and 70 percent
of all e-mail, according to published reports. And even the companies
charged
with helping businesses secure their networks now are coming under
attack.
In April, for example, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) warned customers about a hole in its
Wireless
LAN Solution Engine.
Indeed, current security gaps cost U.S. businesses about 5.7 percent in
annual revenue, according to Omni Consulting Group. Thus, securing the
network would give businesses about 6 percent more funding to put toward
more profitable IT initiatives.
Since 1999, DeepNines Technologies, a San Antonio, Texas-based
developer,
has been offering the DeepNines Security Platform to Global 2000
corporations, educational institutions and government agencies. The
company
has developed a scalable, platform-independent solution that integrates
an
intelligent firewall, intrusion prevention, McAfee anti-virus software
from
Network Associates (NYSE: NET) , and forensic capture and reporting into a security
platform that operates outside the network infrastructure, repelling
attacks
before they can affect network performance or compromise data. The
platform
runs on Sun's SPARC, x86 and Linux offerings.
Recently, the E-Commerce Times spent time with Dan Jackson, president and COO of
DeepNines.
Before joining DeepNines, Jackson was
senior vice president of the Kinetics Group. Jackson also has held
positions
at USFilter, Glegg Outsourced Solutions and Glegg Water Conditioning.
E-Commerce Times: So how would you describe DeepNines Technologies -- your philosophy
and
how you go about protecting the network?
Jackson: We've been around now for five years. Our overall
philosophy
has been that network security is so fragmented -- not only in the
marketplace,
but in the overall security architectures -- that we had a
tremendous opportunity to come in and be a cornerstone of the
integration and
consolidation requirements of network security. At the same time, we could
change
the beliefs about where security should start. We took a different approach
and
said, "What's the logical point to keep the bad guys out and the good
guys
in?" That's at the edge of your network -- and that should include your
router.
ECT: How difficult has it been, then, to target potential clients since
you're taking a different tack from some others in the market?
Jackson: Well, to be quite honest with you, for the first two years
everybody said, "Hey, sounds really great. Show me. I don't believe your
technology does what you say it does." For the last two and a half to
three
years, it's been heavy evangelizing. Over the last 12 months, there's
been
phenomenal acceptance. We've seen overwhelming growth. I think the
reason is
people are getting it.
Market share guides hacker decisions, and you're starting to see a lot
of
other major software companies start to come under attack. Now hackers
are
not just focused on Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) . We're seeing history repeat itself as
hackers
target the other large software players. When I talk software, Cisco is
a
software player. A lot of companies on the edge are software players, so
it's a phenomenal opportunity for us.
ECT: You've won some pretty impressive clients recently, especially in
the
education industry.
Jackson: We just received a deal that we're going to secure 50-plus
universities. We're pretty excited about where the company is going. Here's a crazy stat: There are 28 billion malicious
pings a day. Why on earth would you want that to come on your network?
We keep it at the edge. We let the good guys in and keep the bad guys
out.
At the same time, now you have to take a different approach to security
because we believe strongly that history's going to repeat itself with
some
of these major software providers out there. We're starting to see some
things even with Cisco, and we're there to support Cisco and help Cisco
and
educate the market. When you start to look at the vulnerabilities that
are
coming forward with Cisco, it is a software solution. For us, we're heavily focused on providing security at the edge, which
the
router was never designed to do.
ECT: So how does this translate into return on investment?
Jackson: There are a couple of different camps out there. They talk
host-based solutions and they talk network-based solutions. We're a
network-based solution. We're a security platform, so we provide firewall
functionality, IDS functionality, A/V functionality, anti-spam -- all at
the
edge of your network. Now when there's a vulnerability you don't have to update
tens,
hundreds or thousands of boxes. You have to update one.
When you are a host-based technology or architecture and you have
100,000
users, it's going to be very, very difficult for you to outpace any one
of
the vulnerabilities out there. We believe in host-based, we believe in a
layered approach, but we think your most dynamic
security solution should be all the way at the edge, and it should be
comprehensive. Comprehensive means it has to include your router. It
needs
to protect your firewall, which is internal. If you think about it, 90
percent of all companies have a firewall, but 84 percent of the
companies
have all suffered a loss in the last 12 to 18 months. There's a stat out
there right now that 94 percent of all CIOs say they're at risk. Why is
that? Obviously something isn't working.
ECT: Who does DeepNines consider its competitors?
Jackson: We compare a security platform to a multi-point security
architecture. There are two ways you approach value to the customer. One
is
the resource side -- the administration, the maintenance. We consider those
soft numbers. Tolly Group recently came out with a study that
says security platforms, from a resource and administration perspective,
save on an annual basis 160 percent over multi-point products. That's a
phenomenal savings. Now you don't have your administrators working in
five different products.
The other thing is, we price our product based on bandwidth. We are not
a
node-based pricing model. In our security platform versus a multi-point product, we save 50 to 60 percent on a capital
expenditure and then we save up to 80 percent on the annual maintenance
side
of things. Those are real, hard, tangible dollars.
ECT: I understand you not only provide demo units, you'll also send out
a
technical person to show prospective clients how the technology works?
Jackson: When you're evangelizing a technology that nobody else has
got right now, our sales cycle is a little bit longer but the benefits we're getting are
phenomenal.
ECT: What are some of the markets you focus on?
Jackson: We've had a focus on education because we felt if we could
demonstrate to the marketplace that we could sit in the wildest of
environments -- that we could deal with a
32,000-student university all the way down to a 1,500-student university -- it
would demonstrate scalability, it would demonstrate true security
functionality. At universities there are no personal
firewalls,
no A/V updates out there and you would not believe the spike in traffic
and
the spike in malicious traffic when school comes back in service.
From there, we have a very heavy focus in Federal, telecommunications
and
financial. Our revenues are 37 percent in education, 29 percent in
federal,
16 percent telecommunications and the rest is more of a hodge-podge.
ECT: But you also are looking for clients outside those four large
verticals?
Jackson: Absolutely. We have vertical-based sales team and we also have
geographical-based teams. We won't walk away from a deal.
ECT: And you're also a big Sun partner?
Jackson: We've been working with Sun since our inception. When we first
came
out, our solution was not invisible: It had a MAC address. We wanted to
be
on a secure platform, so that's why we chose Sun. Since then, we've
become
truly invisible -- we have no IP address, no MAC address, we never
terminate
the stack. So we focused on Sun because of their performance,
the
reliability of their hardware platform and their operating platform. We're an integral part now of their
overall security architecture. We signed a reseller agreement with Sun
in
their fourth quarter, and we're just now getting a kick-off in their Q1.
ECT: Does that then mean that Sun resells DeepNines' platform or does
your
solution go through Sun's indirect channel?
Jackson: They resell DeepNines' Security Platform, and they're helping to
take us to their channel because we are 100 percent Sun. If we get a
deal,
Sun gets a deal. We're really starting to enjoy the benefits. In the
education marketplace, we're the number one or number two security
partner. It's very hard for a company of my size to get that kind of
exposure, but Sun made that commitment to us.
Sun is very channel-friendly. When the channel deals with us, they know
we'll be working directly with them. There's a lot of value to be
created
for them. It reduces conflict. I focus heavily on the Sun channel. I
don't
have to work with anyone else, so I can be very focused. A company of
our
size, you have to be focused to be successful. You can't be all things
to
everyone.
ECT: When you're talking to existing or prospective clients, what are
some
of their major concerns?
Jackson: I think the primary concern is that they have so much stuff
coming
at them. They've dealt with so many technologies. I don't want to throw
stones or anything, but IDS came in. People came and spent a ton of
money
there, but it didn't solve their pain. It didn't remove any of their
heartache -- it actually increased it. There are a lot of people out there
just
sitting back, waiting to see what will happen.
ECT: Do clients have to rip out their existing infrastructure if they
invest
in DeepNines' platform?
Jackson: No. We're a good Cisco partner. I know we highlighted some
issues
around Cisco.
ECT: But they did happen.
Jackson: They are real issues. They're real vulnerabilities and they
have
real market share. Our technology doesn't require any customer to
abandon
his Cisco strategy. There's a lot of Cisco equipment out there. There
are a
lot of companies trying to get you to abandon your Cisco strategy. We're
complementary to Cisco. We get rid of vulnerability, create a lot of
value but, at the same time, you don't have to abandon your Cisco strategy.
It's the same thing with Check Point firewalls or IDS technologies. We
eliminate the false positives, false negatives. We get rid of the bad
stuff
and allow the layered approach to really secure the network.
ECT: How many patents does DeepNines hold?
Jackson: We have 18 patents pending. We've been notified we're going to
get
our first and most major patent, and we'll hear in the next 45 to 60
days.
ECT: Why is DeepNines' technology so different from other solutions out
there?
Jackson: We don't just focus on the known. Our technology focuses
on
the unknown. We're going to prevent an attack or mitigate the effects of
an
attack. The biggest thing we try to do is improve on meantime to
mitigate.
If you have a fragmented security architecture you're going to have a
very
hard time improving your mean time to mitigate. Those attacks go so
quickly
through your network.
ECT: Obviously, even if a worm or virus doesn't infect a
network,
fighting off the intruder can decrease the network's performance.
Jackson: Absolutely. Believe it or not, we actually deal with a lot of
very
large customers and if there is a new virus or worm out there, they
unplug
the network. I'm not talking a small organization; I'm talking about a
company with 100,000 users. They're costing corporate America huge
amounts
of money. If we can reduce that fragmentation, get to the edge of your
network, protect and add an invisible layer of protection, we're adding
a
lot of value to your network.
ECT: How did you get involved with DeepNines?
Jackson: Sue Dark actually founded the company. I was one of the first
angel
investors involved in the company. I'm a technology guy by heart and
have
been fairly successful in building businesses -- a lot of small
companies that have become large companies -- and I thought security was so
fragmented that it provided a tremendous opportunity.
Security is going to be a $155 billion market place. The largest players
only have 1 percent market share. There's no major, dominant player. If
you
remain focused and carve out your niche, you can be a viable player.
Free WiFi Hotspot Locator from TechNewsWorld
warned customers about a hole in its
Wireless
LAN Solution Engine.
would give businesses about 6 percent more funding to put toward
more profitable IT initiatives.
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