Nasdaq-listed Aladdin Knowledge Systems has stepped into the local market in a bid to change the way security is seen in SA.
Aladdin, headquartered in Israel, has teamed up with local infrastructure service provider BCSnet to offer security software as a service from today. It has also signed up a local distributor, Johannesburg-based IT security company Camsoft Solutions, which will provide the product through more traditional channels.
BCSnet will offer its customers Aladdin's eSafe SecureSurfing platform for an additional R15 a month. The company says the service inspects and filters Web traffic before it reaches the surfer, and saves users on bandwidth, as they do not have to download updates.
Death to desktop software
Aladdin's VP of eSafe, Tsion Gonen, claims the software will "revolutionise" the local security market. The company, which has a market capitalisation of about R2.1 billion, aims to use SA as a launch pad to gain entry into other African markets. "We plan to make money here."
The product, says Gonen, will be pitched at all industries and consumers, from small companies to large corporations, as well as end-users. "We are going to hurt Norton and McAfee in terms of a desktop solution," he says. Initially, the company will work through channels, but will later look at establishing a local division.
He says the product is intuitive, instead of reactively blocking threats, and takes the responsibility of deciding what is and is not safe out of the end-user's hands. He adds that previously banned Web sites can be visited safely as eSafe will remove all malicious content before it gets to the desktop.
SA investment
Aladdin will invest millions of dollars in SA as a result of its partnerships, says Gonen. This includes investment in training, infrastructure and engineering. BCSnet executive director Niel de Wet says: "A big skills transfer will happen, and will continue to happen."
BCSnet, an empowered service provider of outsourced ICT infrastructure services, aims to grow its business by offering eSafe. De Wet says the offering is easy to bundle as a package and should lure extra business to the company, which has a short-term exclusivity arrangement with Aladdin.
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