Ncipher Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 19/12/2007 09:31

More good reading - some extracts:



"Storage Encryption Reevaluated

Storage encryption is evolving away from two-port devices and a focus on tape
By Mary Jander December 17, 2007, 10:00 AM

Recent developments in storage security have left customers wondering what's next in the evolution of tape and disk encryption.

The recent demise of NeoScale and the purchase of its assets by nCipher indicate that the days of the standalone tape or disk encryptor may be numbered. After all, another early supplier, Kasten Chase, went belly-up last year. And despite Decru's apparent success, some may ask whether at least some of that can be attributed to the deep pockets of parent company NetApp."

"Oltsik envisions a solid market for tape encryptors for the next three to five years, after which disk will probably dominate.

At the same time, key management that incorporates tape and disk devices is gaining momentum among vendors like IBM, Decru, nCipher, and CipherMax.

ESG's Oltsik sees products like these taking root in the form of stand-alone multiport appliances that handle encryption and key management for a range of tape and disk devices."

[rivaldo] 15/12/2007 11:46

These guys also think NCH got a bargain:



"The sum is a firesale $1.95 million, which reflects the fact that the US company has ceased operations and is desperate to seal any deal going, but it includes NeoScale's intellectual property assets, software, remaining finished encryption appliances, and CRM database."

"The buy is a small coup for the UK outfit given that the NeoScale's administrators are believed to have received bids from a variety of companies including Dell, Oracle, and Palo Alto, and Pretty Good Privacy."



"NeoScale had a total of $43 million in funding, but its last round came in March 2005.

Although it had close to 300 customers, Moulds said tape encryption could not drive enough revenue to sustain NeoScale because it is only one piece of the encryption puzzle. nCipher handles key management for a variety of encryption devices."

[rivaldo] 13/12/2007 22:20

More on the Neoscale takeover - information overload is setting in :o))

It continues to seem a bargain for £1m though:

[rivaldo] 13/12/2007 09:22

Look forward to it Tole.

More news - imteresting that Venafi are one of the top 10 IT security companies to watch:



So:


"Venafi Supports nCipher HSM

Venafi support for ncipher Hardware Security Module lets organizations enhance security, leverage existing technology investment

DECEMBER 12, 2007 | SANDY, Utah -- Venafi, a provider of systems management for encryption software, today announced that organizations can enhance their security with Venafi certificate and key management products while leveraging prior investments in nCipher netHSM, a hardware security module. Venafi products-which automate the deployment, management and control of encryption technologies-enable the back up of private keys for rapid recovery and are built to maintain the security of those private keys using keys stored in software cryptographic modules or in HSMs. This lets organizations select the level of security that best meets their needs and environments, and better facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements and standards such as the Payment Credit Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard.

To protect the private keys associated with certificates used for encryption of data from both disclosure and misuse, Venafi manages the certificates and keys through its central management console, then encrypts the private keys with an encryption key that is stored in software or an HSM.

"Organizations have struggled for years to find ways to more efficiently perform tasks and processes like key distribution and key lifecycle management," said Paul Turner, vice president of product and customer solutions, Venafi. "Now our customers have even more options when selecting the level of security and encryption technologies that make the most sense for their requirements, and they can leave all of the maintenance work to us.""

[tole] 12/12/2007 17:50

Thx anyway riv - will see what I can do. On my watchlist again here.

[rivaldo] 12/12/2007 14:41

Not me Tole, sorry - only what's on this thread. I have one from CS dated 26th October and that's it. If you can get a recent one....

More good stuff on the acquisition here:



Extracts:

"Richard Moulds, vice president of marketing and product management at nCipher, said that his company plans to re-open sales of the NeoScale CryptoStor encryption appliance and offer customer support. Moulds said that nCipher has a couple of months worth of inventory on hand, and is working with NeoScale's contract manufacturer to restart manufacturing.

Gordon Nyquist, a partner at Mercury Storage, a Southfield, Mich.-based solution provider who worked with NeoScale until the vendor closed its doors last month, was relieved to hear it had been acquired."

"Nyquist said he is also looking forward to talking to nCipher about partnering with the vendor, a hope that falls in line with the vendor's plans to expand its U.S. channels using NeoScale's solution provider base.

Currently, all nCipher sales in Asia go through indirect channels, as do most of its European sales. However, that number drops to between 10 percent and 15 percent, Moulds said.

"The acquisition of NeoScale is also a chance to get into the U.S. channel," he said. "We have started reaching out to U.S. channel partners. Many have a good pipeline for the product, and have been waiting to see who will take over."

With the acquisition, nCipher has brought about 10 of NeoScale's employees back to work in their Milpitas office, which nCipher plans to continue using. The company plans to continue development of the CryptoStor appliance, including integrating it with nCipher's other products, Moulds said. nCipher will also look at bringing out a higher-performance version in the near future, he said."

[tole] 12/12/2007 10:12

Anybody got any of these recent broker notes? Charles stanley, KBC, Panmure...




nCipher "buy"

Friday, December 07, 2007 8:29:52 AM ET
Panmure Gordon & Co

LONDON, December 7 (newratings.com) - Analyst Nick James of Panmure Gordon maintains his "buy" rating on nCipher Plc (ticker: NCH-GBX). The target price is set to 280p.

In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that company experienced continued momentum in the core HSM business in 2H and the initial deployment of keyAuthority is tracking well. nCipher may generate robust growth in the medium term on account of its leadership in the enterprise key management market, the analyst adds. The company should be able to achieve a revenue CAGR of 19% and operating margins of 14% over the next five years, according to Panmure Gordon.

[jonnyno1] 12/12/2007 08:26

more good work and will be rewarded i am sure, unfortunately their is a seller in the market so i guess we will not see the benefit from this deal immediately, however it will be soon. this is one for Paulypilot's 'small cap unloved and undervalued'

J.

[rivaldo] 12/12/2007 07:53

Ta jonnyno1. This looks better and better actually..."Kolodgy said he expects nCipher, a $40 million company, to increase its revenue by 25 to 50 percent with the NeoScale buy"!! So NCH at a stroke increases revenues by up to £12m at a cost of £1m - which can't be bad:



"nCipher purchases most of insolvent NeoScale
Dan Kaplan
December 11, 2007

U.K.-based encryption and key management provider nCipher announced today it acquired most of the intellectual property and assets of NeoScale Systems, an appliance-based enterprise storage security firm that recently ceased operations.

nCipher's $1.95 million purchase of Milpitas, Calif.-based NeoScale ends several weeks of speculation over who would pick up the defunct company. EMC, Dell, HP and Oracle also were rumored as being interested.

"With the company being insolvent...it would appear the (venture capitalists) didn't want to put any more money into the company and worked to sell the company's assets, probably much earlier than they would have liked to," considering the small price, Charles Kolodgy, a research director at IDC, told SCMagazineUS.com today in an email.

Richard Moulds, vice president of marketing, for nCipher told SCMagazineUS.com today that many companies tend to prefer NeoScale's "bump-in-the-wire" approach to storage encryption, which typically allows for easier installation and less configuration and maintenance.

"There is a need for dedicated storage encryption, especially for those with older storage systems," Kolodgy said. "Although there are many vendors who have or will soon deliver tape drives with embedded encryption, many disk drives do not have those capabilities and it will take a while for people to replace their legacy products."

That may change in the future, in light of plans from vendors such as SeaGate Technology, which announced in October that it was collaborating with IBM and LSI to extend hardware-based full-disk encryption to hard drives.

Despite having little competition, NeoScale – which also provided key management solutions that likely will be integrated with nCipher's keyAuthority products – was not able to earn enough sales revenue.

"They weren't a very diversified company," Moulds said. "They were a small company carrying a lot of corporate overhead. In the end, they didn't have the commercial strength in the encryption product line."

The addition of the CryptoStor brand to nCipher's set of offerings will allow it to expand its presence in North American markets, according to the company.

"We can add this product line to our portfolio with little corporate overhead," Moulds said.

Kolodgy said he expects nCipher, a $40 million company, to increase its revenue by 25 to 50 percent with the NeoScale buy.

nCipher expects to hire back about 10 former employees of NeoScale, which maintained a staff of more than 75 at its peak.

A NeoScale representative was not available for comment.

Today's news comes on the heels of nCipher's Dec. 3 appointment of Geoffrey Finlay as the new chief executive officer. He replaces Alex van Someren, the company's co-founder."

[jonnyno1] 11/12/2007 21:19

good find rivaldo, you have been doing some very good work lately, i've increased my holding in this. a million quid for this is a small deal which may have a big effect. this is not an abridean.

J.

[rivaldo] 11/12/2007 20:44

Ta :o))

Intriguing article here on today's acquisition - "this seemingly minor merger could have a profound industry impact":



"December 11, 2007 10:48 AM PST
Encryption consolidation may benefit the industry
Posted by Jon Oltsik

There was a relatively small acquisition on Tuesday: nCipher, a U.K.-based encryption specialist, purchased storage encryption appliance vendor NeoScale Systems. This could be looked at as basic industry consolidation, but the impact could ripple further.

Encryption and, more specifically, key management really needs a set of standards to prosper and grow. Key management standards must include standard ways to connect encrypting devices to key managers, key managers to key managers, and so on. There are a few nascent standards efforts in this area, but nothing concrete.

Here's how this niche merger could impact the stalemate. nCipher has strong relationships with IBM, while NeoScale works closely with EMC-RSA. nCipher also has developed some very simple yet elegant key management communications standards and interfaces. If nCipher-NeoScale can build some consensus on standards with IBM and EMC-RSA, the rest of the industry is bound to follow. This could lead to a pragmatic solution to a vexing problem.

The industry needs leadership here. If we don't fix the key management standards problem, data is bound to get lost or stolen while operating costs increase. If nCipher-NeoScale can help move the industry in the right direction, this seemingly minor merger could have a profound industry impact."

[cwa1] 11/12/2007 10:13

r

I suppose the only doubt is that this becomes another Abridean with good money going after bad

That thought certainly went straight thro' my mind when I saw the acquisition news. I'm sure we'll not be the only two who think it either. I certainly hope it is "once bitten, twice shy" when it comes to dodgy acquisition.

Well done on the scoop :-)

[rivaldo] 11/12/2007 09:58

Just call me Scoop CWA1 :o))

Looks excellent value for just £1m in scooping up the assets, customers and staff from a bankrupt company:

"It was an EMC Select vendor, reportedly had roughly 300 customers, and boasted a horde of industry partners."

Presumably NCH can supply the missing element here:

"At least one other competitor, newcomer Ingrian Networks, thinks NeoScale wasn't savvy enough. "There's a pretty clear explanation. They relied on storage and tape encryption," says Derek Tumulak, Ingrian's VP of product management. Users instead require protection at the application level, he says, as well as key management for a range of encrypted devices, including tape drives supporting the LTO-4 format, which incorporates integral encryption."

I suppose the only doubt is that this becomes another Abridean with good money going after bad - but this time NCH are paying peanuts for an apparent bargain and will hopefully have learnt from their mistakes.

[cwa1] 11/12/2007 09:04

And there she is rivaldo...

[rivaldo] 11/12/2007 07:55

Good news for NCH - one of its competitors is out of the game and NCH have shown interest in picking off the carcass:



"Who will buy? Despite reports of interest from EMC, HP, and others, only one firm, encryption software maker nCipher, has acknowledged looking seriously at NeoScale. "I can acknowledge there's been interest, but I don't know the status beyond that," said an nCipher spokesman."

[rivaldo] 10/12/2007 15:04

There's a webcast tomorrow:



"Webcast - Aberdeen Encryption and Key Management
December 11, 2007 to December 11, 2007
With the growing use of encryption best-in-class firms are turning toward centralized, automated key management systems. A specific data point of interest: best-in-class firms support twice as many keys at a 34% reduced cost. These firms are shifting from a traditional perimeter based approach of controlling access to data itself, to a de-perimeterized approach of securing data combined with protecting and controlling access to the encryption keys that secure the data. These same firms are shifting focus from tactical deployment of point solutions for encryption to a top down enterprise view.
To register visit:

And news today:


"nCipher technology helps public notaries in Belgium go digital

nCipher's Secure Time Stamp Server helps Royal Federation of Belgian Notaries cut company registration time from 56 days to three
December 10, 2007

nCipher plc (LSE: NCH), a global leader in protecting critical enterprise data, announces that the Royal Federation of Belgian Notaries has deployed nCipher's time stamping technology to ensure that digitally signed company registration documents are legally recognized and can be proved to be authentic. By conducting the process of registering a new company online with electronic documentation the need to send paper documents back and forth for hand-written signatures is eliminated and the process of registering a new company in Belgium has now been dramatically reduced – from an average of 56 days to only three days.

Verifying and witnessing new company registrations is just one of the vital, legally binding functions provided by the Royal Federation of Belgian Notaries (Fédération Royale du Notariat Belge, FRNB). To speed up their work and increase efficiency, the Belgium Ministry of Justice launched an initiative to create a secure infrastructure to replace hand-signed notarised paper documents and forms with digitally signed electronic documents that carry the same legal standing. Central to this initiative was the need to generate securely signed and time stamped digital documents that could not be tampered with and whose authenticity could be proven.

"Digital signatures provide a proven way to establish the authenticity of an electronic document, but for these documents to be of any legal value we need to be 100% sure of the point in time at which the document was digitally signed by one of our Notaries," says Jan Biets, program manager at FRNB. "The deployment of nCipher's Time Stamp Server means we can digitally sign and time stamp documents using a high-strength, tamper-resistant security appliance. Not only does this overcome the risks associated with software-based digital signing processes, but also provides an auditable and trusted record of date and time for all documents without relying on system clocks within host operating systems that can easily be altered."

The FRNB has built a national infrastructure that provides more than 1,200 regional Notaries with the technology to digitally sign and time stamp electronic documents. The signatures and time stamps provided by nCipher's Time Stamp Server (TSS) bind the documents and the information they contain to a secure official Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) source verified by the Belgium National Measurement Institute (NMI) which is impossible to falsify. nCipher's TSS also creates what is in effect a cryptographic digital fingerprint that freezes the content of the document at the exact moment it is signed so in the event that the document is changed the 'fingerprint' will also change making it immediately evident that the document has been tampered with.

"nCipher has a wealth of experience and leading-edge products in the area of time stamping and cryptographic key management that makes it practical for companies, even those in industry sectors not normally known for leading edge technology deployment, to utilize high-strength cryptographic security techniques for the first time," says Avia Dadon, product manager at nCipher. "The introduction and acceptance of secure, digitally signed and time stamped electronic documents is revolutionising the work of Notaries in Belgium, reducing both costs and workload. This is a critical public service and nCipher has delivered a secure system that provides the high levels of assurance necessary to protect the extremely high level of trust that has been placed in this service for centuries."

The nCipher TSS is fully compliant with the ETSI 102023 ETSI TS 101 861 policy requirements for time stamping authorities and that set the standard for the entire certificate issuing and time stamping procedures defined by the FRNB. "

[rivaldo] 08/12/2007 13:49

Sophos have now pulled their IPO given market conditions - hardly surprising! The valuation looked far too toppy to me.

More surprising is the decline in the NCH share price. Only two months ago the Chairman was buying 100,000 shares at 245p. the volumes have been pitifully small, so I suspect any interest would perk things up quickly.

There was a trading update on 18th December last year (mixed in with Abridean news) so hopefully we'll get another one soon.

Remembering that NCH had £11.1m of cash against the £38m m/cap at the interims (probably £12m now), here's the latest forecasts:

2007 2008
Broker Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p)
KBC Peel Hunt Ltd 07-12-07 BUY 3.58 9.91 4.29 15.93
Panmure Gordon 07-12-07 BUY 3.37 9.11 3.39 12.88
Charles Stanley 26-10-07 BUY 3.40 10.27 4.10 16.69

[jonnyno1] 04/12/2007 09:10

good work rivaldo, these haven't recovered the drop in momentum from the market falls, its only a matter of time, i suspect the new ceo will be taking a holding shortly.

[rivaldo] 02/12/2007 10:34

Given yesterdays's national press coverage of cyber-attacks from China. Russia, Eastern Europe etc, NCH's products should only gain in popularity and usage as must-haves I'd have thought.

Here's an article about Friday's CEO announcement FYI:



"Computer & Internet Security News30 November 2007

nCipher founder calls it a day
By John E. Dunn, Techworld

After 11 years in charge of one of the UK rising security stars, the CEO and co-founder of nCipher, Alex van Someren, has announced that he is to quit his post.

From 3 December, the new CEO will be Geoffrey Finlay, once CEO of Kewill Systems and managing director of JDA Software. Van Someren will remain on the board for a year to oversee the beginning of a new era for a company that he started in 1996 with his brother, Nico van Someren, with money from networking billionaire Terry Matthews' Celtic House venture outfit.

Matthews got his money back with interest in 2000, when nCipher went public with a heady face value of £350 million ($700 million). Today, despite a lower stock value, nCipher is considered a UK leader in its field of encryption hardware and management.

"I would like to pay tribute to the major contribution that Alex van Someren has made to the successful development of the company and the Board is grateful to him for agreeing to a period of transition," said one of the company's non-executive directors, Robert Jeens.

Privately, it is known that van Someren has been looking to step away from the relentless grind of managing a listed company for some time, and his departure is no surprise.

Given his youth, and long involvement with computing - he previously ran his own Acorn startup - it is unlikely that van Someren will simply retire to play golf at another of Terry Matthews' projects, the Ryder Cup-hosting Celtic Manor golf complex in Newport, Wales. Inside sources say he will almost certainly return to the industry in some guise after recovering from nCipher."

[rivaldo] 30/11/2007 09:39

From Citywire today:



"Panmure Gordon has....a buy and 280p target for NCipher"

[rivaldo] 27/11/2007 09:13

A big interview here with Richard Moulds, NCH's VP. Too long to paste, but here's the intro and ending - note that NCH are players in IEEE's 1619.3 and the Trusted Computing Group:



"Encryption key management worries loom
Encrypted storage will require storage admins to think through key management
Robert L. Scheier

November 26, 2007 (Computerworld) -- As long as IT managers encrypt data using only one vendor's products, the keys used to decrypt that data can be relatively easy to manage. But it will likely become much more complicated as more vendors build encryption into more and different types of storage devices, each with their own key management system, and as users need to move encrypted data among devices for disaster recovery, legal discovery or simply everyday business communications.

"If you share the key, you share the data; if you lost the key, you've lost the data," says Dennis Hoffman, general manager of the data security unit of RSA Security Inc., now owned by EMC Corp. The fear of losing decryption keys (and thus their data) has kept many organizations from encrypting stored data. But faced with regulations requiring that customer data be kept safe, and the prospect of hefty fines and bad publicity when backup tapes are lost, more and more companies are encrypting stored data. Another factor, security experts say, is that if the data on a lost or stolen tape or disk drive has been encrypted, the company that owns the data often isn't required to report the loss.

While in the past encryption usually required a standalone appliance, vendors including IBM, Sun Microsystems and Spectra Logic offer tape libraries with built-in encryption capabilities. In October, Seagate Technology announced it will include Full Disk Encryption (FDE) technology in all its enterprise-class drives, and vendors such as Oracle Corp. offer encryption in their databases.

That blizzard of encryption, and of keys, calls for a single, unified approach that puts "all the keys to the kingdom all in one place and managed, ideally, by one group in the organization," says Richard Moulds, vice president of nCipher Corp. Ltd., a security hardware and software vendor. Whether or not the storage group is in charge of key management, experts say, they need to understand how key management works and where storage keys fit into the big picture."

"Emerging standards such as the IEEE's 1619.3 will eventually help ensure interoperability among various key management servers , Hubis says, while a subgroup of the Trusted Computing Group is working to develop a uniform approach to managing keys across a variety of storage devices.

Experts advise storage managers to work with other IT planners throughout the organization to determine threats facing the , where encryption can help reduce those threats and then plan for how to manage the keys needed to provide that encryption.

Among the factors to consider are how many types of keys they will need to manage; the number of keys they will generate as the number of encrypted tapes or disks grows; how to collect and manage policy information about the keys (such as who can create and destroy them and how long they will be valid) as well as how to back up and recover the keys and to encrypt them for security.

But above all, storage administrators need to remember that encryption itself "is relatively easy," says Moulds. "The difficult thing is how to manage all those keys. If keys can be stolen, or be accessed by the wrong person, or if keys are inadequately copied and backed up, and distributed, and you have no idea how many copies [exist] encryption is a total waste of time."

Keys to key mnagement

Plan for future growth in the number and types of keys you will need to manage, and for the length of time you will need to store them.
Prepare policies for those keys (such as who can access which keys and now long various keys will exist.)
Ensure encryption and decryption keys are protected in your backup and recovery and security plans.
Plan for how to integrate key management with your identity and access management processes and tools (such as directories.)
Communicate with others managing encryption on other platforms such as networks and applications to coordinate your key management efforts.
Monitor the status of standards efforts such as the IEEE's 1619.3 which will make it easier for various key management systems to work together."

[rivaldo] 23/11/2007 12:43

Another 65k shares bought in by the company - the Trust now owns a weighty 7.5%:



Hopefully it's meaningful that they're so keen to keep buying just before the year end and a trading statement.

[rivaldo] 20/11/2007 15:05

More company share buying:



"nCipher plc (the 'Company') received notice today of the following purchase of
its ordinary shares of 0.527p each (the 'Shares').

In accordance with the terms of The nCipher Employee Share Ownership Trust (the
'Trust'), RBC Trustees (Guernsey) Limited, in its capacity as trustee of the
Trust and for the purposes of the various share schemes established by the
Company and certain group companies, purchased 50,000 Shares at a price of 258
pence each on 19 November 2007.

Following this purchases the Trust holds a total of 1,182,042 Shares
representing 7% of the Company's current issued share capital.

Alex van Someren and Dr Nicko van Someren, as executive directors of the
Company, are potential beneficiaries under the Trust and are therefore deemed to be interested in these shares."

[rivaldo] 15/11/2007 12:10

It was the directors Jonny, indirectly anyway, through the share ownership scheme:



"In accordance with the terms of The nCipher Employee Share Ownership Trust (the 'Trust'), RBC Trustees (Guernsey) Limited, in its capacity as trustee of the Trust and for the purposes of the various share schemes established by the
Company and certain group companies, purchased 213,002 Shares at a price of 258
pence each on 13 November 2007 and a further 70,000 Shares at a price of 258
pence each on 14 November.

Following this purchases the Trust holds a total of 1,132,042 Shares
representing 6.7% of the Company's current issued share capital.

Alex van Someren and Dr Nicko van Someren, as executive directors of the
Company, are potential beneficiaries under the Trust and are therefore deemed to be interested in these shares."