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CEOCFO Monthly Analyst |
From
paper processes to electronic medium
Technology ValiCert, Inc. Joseph (Yosi) Amram, Interviewed conducted by: Bio of CEO ValiCert is the third company I have been involved building. The first one was Rational Software, where I was in charge of product marketing from no product or revenues to about $25 million and profitability in 1987. Since then Rational has grown to be over a billion-dollar business that dominates the software tool base. I was also the founder, chairman and CEO of Individual Inc., which pioneered the delivery of personalized information services and I grew that company through its successful IPO. Following that I was looking for the next big thing and I saw that providing trusted transaction infrastructure on the Internet to enable business to migrate from paper to the electronic medium. I hooked up with the technical founders of the company, Chini Krishnan and Ambarish Malpani, in 1996. They had some software patents and ideas on bringing trust to the electronic medium from a technology standpoint using public key encryption. The company lacked the management expertise, the business plan, the financial resources and funding to really build it into business. I got excited and joined them in 1997 and the rest is history as they say. CEOCFOinterviews: Your background is rather extensive with using
computers, the internet, but right now, the company, ValiCert, what exactly do they do? Mr. Amram: ValiCert
provides an Internet infrastructure solution to enable trusted transactions. Transactions that are valid, secure and provable. This infrastructure enables businesses to migrate
from using paper processes to using the electronic medium but yet achieve a legal grade
paperless transaction environment. We secure
all stages of the transaction cycle before the transaction, during the transaction and
after the transaction. When you think about
transactions in the physical world, we are used to using some sort of credential or some
form of an ID to authenticate the other party. It
could be a drivers license, it could be a credit card or a passport, but once we have
identified them, we need to secure the transaction and that would mean a few things. Validating the credential to see if it is still
current, make sure the credit card is not lost, or stolen or if the driver's license has
not been revoked. Ensuring the person we are
dealing with is authorized to deal in this transaction.
We then securely and confidentially distribute transaction information
between the parties involved and then provide a post transaction proof mechanism in the
form of a receipt or contract that is copied and archived to achieve a legal
enforceability to the transaction. So, while
all of those elements will be the analogs that happen in the physical world, ValiCert
provides those elements of transaction security in the electronic world. From the first step of validating the credentials
involved, to ensuring the authority of the parties involved, securely delivering the
information of the transaction confidentially and in a guaranteed reliable fashion,
ensuring the data integrity and then enabling the post transaction proof in the form of a
digital receipt or in the form online contract negotiation and execution to achieve a
legally binding contract that is stored electronically. CEOCFOinterviews: How do you handle the day to day security ? Mr. Amram: We
indeed have to ensure the highest level of security and integrity and we do that through
the use of public key encryption. We have
some of the world's renowned experts in the cryptography field and then in addition to the
use of the latest technology, we utilize the highest security data center and procedural
environment. We host the transactions in our secure data center which uses three levels of
biometrics and redundant power supplies and the latest in firewalls, etc. to ensure access is limited to those who are
authorized. That entire infrastructure has
been audited and reviewed by an outside audit firm and an insurance company underwrites
the liability associated with any break-in or false use of the information. So, we have gone through extensive measures both
from a technical and a procedural standpoint to ensure that the transactions we host or
provide to our customers can be trusted. CEOCFOinterviews: I know you provide new products and software. How often do you provide your new products? |
