IP: Look what Gil Amelio is up to

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "Janos G." <janos451 () earthlink net>
>
>       Viaquo ups security in permissioning software distribution
>       Janos Gereben - www.the451.com
>
>       Using cryptographic techniques developed by a former CIA scientist,
> San Jose-based Viaquo is expected to participate in the upcoming RSA
> conference by releasing a security "permissioning platform," called ViaSeal.
> The451 has learned ahead of the release about some aspects of this
> distributed-architecture, scalable control device of enterprise-wide
> information and digital content.
>
>       Viaquo is a two-year-old San Jose, California, company, headed by Gil
> Amelio, formerly CEO of Apple Computer and National Semiconductor. Primary
> backers of the company are Sienna Ventures, VenGlobal Capital Fund and Hsieh
> Investment Limited Partners.
>
>       ViaSeal will be deployed either as a stand-alone product or through
> ViaSeal's application programming interface (API). Typical public key
> infrastructure-based access control systems are difficult to scale because
> content encrypting keys are individually encrypted and transmitted to each
> user who, additionally, need a separate, individual certificate. ViaSeal is
> reported to enable each authorized user with a set of credentials in a
> security profile that allows accessing the file, and so as the system grows
> in number of users, each user brings additional computing resource required
> to create or consume the content. The central server has no increased burden
> due to the security system and the system scales to any number of users.
>
>       Context Permissioning is being developed to fill the need to control
> and secure data in new modes of distribution. The old model worked via
> fixed-function standalone video terminals with a dedicated analog connection
> to an information provider. In that scenario, the control of data was easier
> in that the vendor was responsible for distribution and simply declared the
> number of terminals installed and the data permissioned on each terminal to
> the source provider. That situation changed radically as tens of thousands
> of users may want access to a single document or music track on a
> centralized server under old PKI, meaning that the same number of key
> exchanges and certificate verifications must be calculated and dispensed by
> that server.
>
>       Technology ViaSeal is a role-based access control (RBAC) system, a
> software-based tool, which may be incorporated into existing software tools
> and improve overall security by simplifying the duties, tasks and
> administrative responsibilities of network administrators. Previous network
> access control systems have provided these functions, but RBAC streamlines
> the administrative process of establishing privileges and reduces management
> time for reviewing privilege assignments.
>
>       In addition to PKI and digital rights management (DRM), ViaSeal
> provides distributed access permissioning software (DAPS), which protects
> the content and not the channel. If the viability of this technology - and
> the use of extra-strength encryption, based on ANSI x9.69 standards - is
> proved, documents and files secured through ViaSeal can be sent, stored and
> transmitted over any public or private network.
>
>       Competition Britain's Transacsys introduced permissioning about a year
> ago in the context of employee relationship management, competing with
> different ERM technologies used by Siebel, PeopleSoft and others. Several of
> the 130 members of the Software and Information Industry Association's
> financial information services sector are engaged in application- or
> industry-specific permissioning development, but Viaquo is out front in
> working on security technology featuring role-based access control and
> distributed architecture.
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Janos Gereben/SF
> janos451 () earthlink net

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