The Moscow-based ISV is of course best known for its anti-virus software, which it has been developing commercially since 1997, but in 2001 it began developing the software with which, three years later, it founded Information Watch Technologies (InfoWatch) to offer protection from data leakage and loss of intellectual property to corporate customers.
The InfoWatch suite offers device and traffic monitoring, as well as storage of suspicious data, said CEO Natalya Kaspersky. We compete against different players in each segment, but we combine them all, she went on, adding that InfoWatch plans to add web monitoring shortly. At the moment all the suspect data is stored in an Oracle database, but inn the upcoming version it will also add MySQL.
She explained that the initial rationale for founding InfoWatch was to develop a separate route to market.
The big systems integrators aren’t interested in AV because it offers relatively little opportunity for upsell margin, she said. AV has just 20%-30% so they don’t push it, whereas the InfoWatch technology has the potential for as much as 100% because it requires a lot more consulting.
The target customers are also quite different from one portfolio to another, she added: AV sells to sys admins, whereas data leakage sells to the security guys.
Kaspersky has already expanded the InfoWatch business beyond Russia, she went on. In February we started offering it in Germany through the Kaspersky business there, and we have plans for the UK, she said.
The exec said she would like to launch InfoWatch in the UK by the end of this year, but we need dedicated sales, consulting and services capabilities, and right now we don’t have the headcount for it.
