I had a chat with nCipher management on their recent results. What's interesting is that they're emerging from what you might call a component technology to a management technology.
The original product is encryption. Vital stuff for banks (though you'd be surprised how many don't use it properly).
But just as physical security has gone far beyond putting up a door and locking it with a key, IT security has got far beyond 'simple' encryption. There's a need for the various encryption keys to be managed, and that involves identity management, backup, and storage management. All areas that nCipher is moving into.
After all, you wouldn't want to be in the position of someone who has locked up all their data - and thrown away the key. That's like throwing your car keys down the drain. And it's easy to do if you don't keep meticulous records of which key opens which data.
What's really interesting to me, though, is that nCipher is now creating management systems that will manage keys from, and interface with, their rival's encryption packages. That's very clever - it locks clients into nCipher whatever hard/software they're currently using.
Abridean, the part-owned identity management business, has disappointed. nCipher is writing off its investment and won't acquire any further stake. However, the problem is not the basic tech, apparently - it's simply that the product was not really ready for market. So in a way, this is good news - it gives nCipher the ability to dictate the roadmap and make sure the new product comes out as part of the nCipher range of solutions.
Meanwhile most brokers seem to have a buy recommendation on the stock with a target price significantly higher than the market price. I'll be watching this space.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment