"We offer value and innovation to customers globally"

Darin Welfare, VP – Sales & General Manager, EMEA & India, WinMagic, talks, to VARINDIA on the encryption market in India and the opportunity for WinMagic to be positioned as a leading encryption brand in this market 

From a positioning point of view, Data Security is increasingly becoming an important market in India. One of the key factors driving this market is the new legislations and regulations that mandate a stronger security foundation for organizations. In addition to this, there are also market-specific requirements for security in different verticals, especially in the areas like finance and healthcare sectors. And this is how WinMagic sees a strong opportunity to increase its focus and investments into emerging security markets like that of India.

“We are not new to this segment of Data Security, as we have been in the encryption and security market since 1997, for over 16 years. We offer a global focus and an attention to encryption that no other competitor can offer. Given Encryption to be our only focus (and not firewall, antivirus or malware), we are able to deliver value and innovation to our global customer base,” assures Darin Welfare, Vice-President – Sales & General Manager, EMEA & India, WinMagic.

WinMagic is seeing a good response coming from not only the mid-market and enterprise-level customers but also from its partners. “We cater to all verticals, as data security needs are relevant across every sector today. Today, our customers range from Government agencies and educational institutions, to Retail and Manufacturing and we continue to work with global leaders in healthcare and finance. In the coming years, we will increase our focus on the public sector in new markets,” says Darin.

Data Center Market for WinMagic…
No matter where the data resides – laptops, desktops, tablets or smartphones, WinMagic’s focus and expertise is related to everything encryption – including servers. Historically, data centers have not been a very large business for encryption vendors, because there has been an attitude to suggest that the most vulnerable points within an organization are going to be the end-points. There is a belief that data centers aren’t vulnerable because there is no significant risk of loss or theft. However, this isn’t true. The transfer of backup data, unsecured server rooms and lax security all mean they are just as exposed as a desktop or laptop.

“In today’s market, we are seeing an increased demand for server encryption which is relevant for data centers. That is why we bring unique capabilities for this particular market with a technology called PBConnex. PBConnex is a pre-boot network-based authentication solution that allows for better management and security of servers. In the event of a device when not connected to the network (e.g. if a server is stolen) it will not be able to boot up without its local area network connection.We have offered PBConnex for a number of years now for laptops and desktops and as servers become more important from an encryption standpoint, we’ve ensured support for them as well,” asserts Darin.

There are two keys to how WinMagic differentiates itself from other market players. First is the PBConnex capability. “When we talk to customers who have already started adopting encryption, a lot of feedback we get is that encryption is highly complex and the user experience is not always great. We address those complexities with our capabilities by simplifying user experience and the IT management experience,” explains Darin.

Secondly, WinMagic brings this capability of managing security to customers in multiple environments. In a bring your own device (BYOD) era, where security compliance issues are rising, it works to ensure organizations its ability to manage the security of all devices within the enterprise. WinMagic’s goal is to help customers manage everything related to encryption in their business. So whether it is its encryption solution (SecureDoc), Microsoft’s BitLocker, Apple’s FileVault 2 and native encryption within iOS, the native encryption within Android or hardware encryption with SEDs – everything can be addressed.

In the long run…
This year, WinMagic is also focussed on the growing demand coming from Cloud-based capabilities. There is an increasing risk with customers starting to look at Cloud solutions like Dropbox, Amazon or Google. WinMagic is, thus, going to have Cloud based solutions in the near future.

WinMagic also has a strategic OEM relationship with HP and Lenovo. Traditionally security parts always used to be sold through security channel. But now it wants to extend its security offerings through the existing HP and Lenovo partners. So instead of selling just the boxes, partners are provided a platform where they can bundle their devices with WinMagic’s encryption solutions and offer them to their customers as a value addition.
samrita@varindia.com