Security vendor seeks about six channel partners with expertise in its core markets

Start-up security vendor Code Green Networks is looking to establish a UK channel to push its content fingerprinting technology.

The US firm, which set up in the UK this month and is planning to sell 100 per cent indirect, has unveiled its Content Inspection Appliance. It has claimed that the appliance protects all content across all potential leakage points by using Deep Content Fingerprinting technology.

Tony Anscombe, managing director northern Europe at Code Green Networks, said: “Data leakage in the UK is very prominent, particularly in government, finance and pharmaceutical sectors, where sensitive information can accidentally get out via Instant Messaging or email. Our appliance sits on the network and fingerprints data, monitoring the IP stream at the gateway.”

Anscombe said the appliance works with over 370 different file formats. It works in languages as diverse as Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Arabic, as well as English.

“Data leakage is a growing problem,” he said. “The biggest challenge for end-users is understanding what is sensitive and what is not.”

Anscombe added that the vendor is looking for about six channel partners with particular expertise in its core markets.

“To deploy this type of technology you are not just selling a piece of commodity tin. That is why we need good quality resellers,” he said.

The vendor is planning to operate a two-tier model and is currently in discussions with a number of distributors, Anscombe added.

However, Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst firm Quocirca, said he would be surprised if the product is as simple as it initially seems.

“If it’s a pure content filtering solution, how do we tell it what is critical and non-critical?” he said. “There have to be rules that are set up first, and how do you go about doing that? There are plenty of products on the market that do that already.”

Longbottom added that if it is just an appliance that sits on a network and does content filtering, that is also a crowded market. Most of them work just in English, but they are already offering the same thing.

“I get the feeling that there is some spin involved on the part of Code Green,” he said. “This is something resellers will have to be careful of when marketing the product to customers. There are some fairly complex rules that still have to be set up, and that often means several days of consultancy. This is great for resellers, but it might leave end-users a bit confused if they were led to believe the appliance was plug and play.”