Quiz any CIO or CTO and he’ll tell you that IT security is a key element of his company’s IT infrastructure. IT security firms are making the most of this market awareness and need. Shipra Arora profiles Rainbow Technologies, a firm which aims to lead in the IT security market

According to DEEPAK PRASAD, Rainbow is trying to strengthen its solution partner channel and is continuously on the lookout for more solution partners

One of the many security concerns brought to light by the September 11 attacks in New York last year was IT security. This has unleashed a new-found awareness for securing IT infrastructure, which was not duly emphasised till now. It is this wave that Rainbow Information Technologies (RIT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based Rainbow Technologies Inc., is banking on to make it big in the IT security market.

2002 was a strong year for Rainbow Technologies, a leading provider of services and solutions for securing the Internet and e-commerce. According to Deepak Prasad, director, RIT, the company benefited from corporations worldwide accepting the Internet as part of their business process, and recognising that IT security is a major element of the new business model. “Corporate and information technology managers have today come to expect always-on security for all e-business applications.”

Rainbow’s global client list today includes some high-profile names like the US National Security Agency, NASA and the US Department of Defense for security-sensitive projects involving satellite data and encryption work. According to Prasad, the Indian subsidiary occupies a very strategic position in the overall operations of Rainbow, considering the fact that the company today houses the only offshore software development centre and core engineering set-up for Rainbow Inc. As a result, the subsidiary forms an integral part of the development activities for most of the company’s offerings.

Housing around 80 engineers doing product development for Rainbow, the centre boasts an efficient engineering resource pool. The development centre is also involved in the enhancement and upgradation of each product line. Feedback is taken from across the globe on product management and marketing, followed by brainstorming sessions to come up with the features required, along with the time frame for setting them up.

Apart from engineering resources, the company also has a separate tech-support centre; this centre acts as a hub for all the APAC offices of Rainbow. RIT is also looking at enhancing the centre with plans for 24x7 support. The centre presently houses resources from sales engineering to post-sales tech support. “These are the people who understand Rainbow products very well, and so their understanding of security is excellent,” explains Prasad.

The company’s engineers have good knowledge of how most products get hacked, and how hackers operate. They use this information in their bid to develop a hacker-proof IT security solution. Special care is also taken to educate customers and help them integrate the best possible security solutions.

Even the infrastructure, feels Prasad, is quite reasonable, with a 512 Kbps leased line from Satyam. All of Rainbow’s data exchange happens on this robust link. Being an IT security company, RIT has taken care to build enough security requirements within its own infrastructure as well.

What gives the company an edge over competition is its end-to-end value proposition. RIT is pitching and positioning itself as an end-to-end IT security solutions provider. It offers a wide spectrum of offerings from anti-piracy software to Internet security solutions. Its offerings are broadly categorised as follows: anti-piracy solutions for software licensing, Internet-based software distribution, PKI-based security solutions, secure Web server and VPN acceleration boards, USB-based authentication tokens, and voice, data and satellite security systems. In the software licensing and protection network and link security area, the company offers Sentinel Keys and SentinelLM product lines. As part of its server security and acceleration (SSL) offerings it provides CryptoSwift HSM. Client security and authentication offerings include iKey USB tokens, while the NetSwift iGate is targeted for secure Web access.

Instant private Web
RIT’s services include custom cryptographic development, security consulting, secure e-commerce and m-commerce, SSL acceleration, network and link security, including high-assurance video-teleconferencing and satellite link security and authentication. The company also provides for software licence enforcement and software licence management, apart from defence messaging and secure PKI storage. According to Prasad, the company is targeting its offerings at all vertical industry segments. “Any company which has a front-end attached to the Web is a potential customer for our solutions. Hence there is tremendous potential.”

Anti-piracy
The company has a strong standing in the market in the area of security tokens for anti-piracy with an installed base of 26 million tokens across the world. This, according to Prasad, is a lead of two to three times over the numbers generated by its nearest rival. According to IDC, Rainbow enjoys a 62 percent market share in the anti-piracy security tokens category worldwide. This is up from around 50 percent last year.

Client side security
On client side security, the company offers its iKey solution, which ensures client side authentication. iKey has been designed as a portable and secure authentication token addressing the password replacement needs of both users and system administrators. In terms of applications, the solution offers workstation security, e-mail signing and encryption, secure Web access, and secure remote access with radius and VPN. The ikey offers PKI compatibility with Windows 2000, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Prasad points out that the solution’s USP are features like ease of deployment, low cost of deployment, and high level of security.

Server side security
On the server side, Rainbow has a strong presence as it is into cryptographic accelerators, which are used by the typical online server. Any kind of online server that involves a necessary transaction needs a very compute-intensive activity. Being a dominant player in cryptographic acceleration technology provides the company a lead in server side security solutions.

Internet security
Rainbow’s business is highly focused in the area of Internet security products and technology solutions as it is striving to be one of the top ten solution providers in this category. Rainbow applies its core technology to a variety of Internet applications. These include providing secure software distribution, accelerating secure communication for e-commerce and VPNs, authenticating users for access to business critical applications, and helping companies to securely transition their business processes to the Internet. Based on an IDC survey, the company has gathered around 52 percent of the Internet security and USB tokens market worldwide.

Channel strategy
Apart from Delhi, the company also has a presence in Mumbai. Rainbow primarily sells through its channel partners. Its channel structure rests on a two-pronged strategy comprising the typical reseller channel and the solution partner channel. While the reseller channel pushes anti-piracy products and solutions, the solution partner channel helps in bridging the gap between Rainbow’s core competence and business opportunities—in other words, what it would take to implement each of the opportunities from a domain perspective. The company currently has two resellers, one each in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, and four solution partners. According to Prasad, the company is trying to strengthen its solution partner channel and is continuously on the lookout for more solution partners.

It is also in the process of upscaling its sales and marketing presence in the country. With Rainbow’s market growing phenomenally in the last two years, the Indian subsidiary has been successful in carving a strong position in the overall scheme of Rainbow’s network. And considering that RIT’s parent is looking to the Indian market to double growth, Prasad and his team clearly have plenty on their hands.