Fiberlink reaches out to 'extended enterprises'

Priya Padmanabhan

BANGALORE: With the number of road warriors on the increase, enterprises are finding another security vulnerability to deal with-the safety of mobile networks or “the extended enterprise” and threat of data loss due to loss or theft of laptops.

A US-based mobility and security solutions company, Fiberlink, is helping enterprises cope with this issue.

While traditional network access companies deal with just the network risk, Fiberlink addresses additional risks like viral threats, lost laptops and the related risk of losing confidential company data,” said James Sheward, CEO, Fiberlink.

According to a Dimension Data report, around 85 percent of IT managers view mobile working as a serious threat to company data. There are some trends that point the criticality of secure mobile networks-the increasing notebook penetration.

Last May, mobile sales exceeded desktop sales in the US. On the threat front, security surveys this year warn of hacking attacks where perpetrators are doing it for profit than for fame.

“The ways in which mobile workers are connecting is increasing. They could be public kiosks, Wi-Fi hotspots, from home or at work,” said Sheward.

Fiberlink, which provides security software-as-a-service, allows IT organizations to determine access and control the network according to the kind of user access. The software also disables devices when they are stolen. Enterprises and the financial services industry in particular are anxious about confidential data getting into wrong hands.

The company faces competition in specific areas such as traditional network access companies like Aventail, Cisco and WatchGuard, firms that have desktop management software like CA and IBM (Tivoli) and security management companies.

Fiberlink has a development center in Bangalore, which employs 40 engineers and hopes to expand the team in the near future. Fiberlink has MNC clients in India such as GE and Honeywell.

The company is now planning to target the Indian software services industry for which security is a key issue. The company has over 600 enterprise customers globally.

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