Network Security : Securing IT To Success

RS Thirupathy says that being a channel partner came naturally to him and it
did not come as a surprise to him when he wound up in the networking and network
security industry. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, he finished his schooling from there
and then later received a diploma in electronics and communications engineering
with a specialization in VLSI design.

Post receiving his diploma, he worked in many different profiles. He took on
the role of a quality assurance manager in a medical manufacturing firm as well
and that of a technical expert in another company. Later, he worked as a
freelancer for a while before he decided to start his own venture.

Tatva Networks, which started out by offering complete networking solutions,
was inaugurated at the end of 2006. “We had started our operations with
networking solutions. We provided complete networking consultation including
network design, layout and implementation, utilizing routers, switches, ISPs,
AV, AS, IDS, VPN boxes etc,” said Thirupathy.

The company is now widespread in solutions offering in the security
verticals. “We offer end-to-end IT security services, we have a lot of network
security solutions and products and hence it averages to around 40 percent of
our overall security revenue,” he clarified.

RS Thirupathy Head-Operations Tatva Networks, Bengaluru

Elaborating on why he decided to venture out into the area of network
security, Thirupathy said, “I am a communications and electronics engineer. I
have always been interested in networks and networ­king. Since we started Tatva
Networks with networking consul­tation, security devices was something which we
had to offer right from the beginning. Moreover, more nodes, more networking,
more sharing-all these mean increased security threats. I do not think that this
cycle of events would break. I see a lot of potential in the security space and
therefore, I jumped at the chance to be a part of it.”

Tatva Networks initially bought their network security productions from
Elitecore's national distributor for Cyberoam. As the company began performing
well and the sales volumes increased exponentially, Elitecore's channel manager
promoted Tatva Networks as a value-added distriburtor (VAD).

Since having been appointed a VAD, Thirupathy mentioned that he has received
a lot of training, pre-sales demonstration services and technical help from
Elitecore Technologies in a professional manner. He also believes that the
vendor is well aware of the trends in the Indian market and their products
reflect this market awareness. “The customer expectations are matching up with
the global expectations and our vendor also understands this well and they have
rightly matched the features in the product,” he elaborated.

Thirupathy said that once a new product is launched into the market,
Elitecore works on the marketing plan along with their SPs. However, he
maintained that he would like the vendor to establish a stronger PR house, hold
more trade shows, seminars in IT security and organize better branding programs.

As network infrastructure and security can become complex, Thirupathy offers
several services to his customers post implementing a technology for them. “We
provide product user training immediately post implementation. Along with it, we
give our customers a consolidated view of IT vulner-abilities, threat
perceptions and associated risks and share information and knowledge with them
to keep them updated,” he revealed.

Talking about the new techno­logies in the market he said, “Unified threat
management (UTM) is a technology where we can look for renewed business
opportunities in network security, security audit, vulnerability identification
and mapping, application regression and granular access testing. Apart from all
this, it also provides business opportunities in the areas of networking,
storage, nodes and terminals, software licenses as well as production support
and facility management. This technology is definitely here to stay.”

Elaborating on the future of network security and Tatva Networks, Thirupathy
concluded, “We have a long way to go in this segment. Consumer usage trends,
with mobile phones, smart phones, netbooks, work from home concepts, have
already shed huge challenges in addressing the security issue. We have to equip
ourselves with market intelligence on this arena and plan accordingly. I believe
that despite the slowdown, IT security has, and always will be a necessity. We
expect the sale cycle to continue in the next quarter.”

SNAP INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS		Tushar Sighat VP-Operations Cyberoam Elitecore Technologies		Bhaskar Bakthavatsalu Country Manager-India and SAARC Check Point		Vikas Desai Lead Techology Consultant-India and SAARC RSA
How are you gearing up your partners to offer security consultancy to customers?	Cyberoam provides training so that the partners gain critical knowledge about our products. We provide training through our two major certification programs-Cyberoam Certified Network and Security Professional and Cyberoam Certified Network and Security Expert, for which instructor-led training is provided on demand		Check Point Support programs enable our partners to provide higher levels of support and services to the customers. Customers need local experts who understand their specific needs and if needed should be able to provide onsite support. These local experts from our channel partners are backed by Check Point's worldwide support teams and in-depth resources-24 hours a day		RSA conducts regular training and certification programs for all partners. We also give our partners as much exposure as possible to our technologies to bring them upto speed with our products and sales strategies
Which verticals are the heaviest spenders on network security?	ITeS, BFSI, education, telecom are among the heaviest spenders on network security. We work with solution providers augmenting their specific expertise in niche verticals such as BFSI and telecom		The financial sector topped the spending list in 2008, which was followed by the service providers. It was predominately the nationalized banks and private banks, which are seen investing in India from a security perspective. The telecom sector is also investing on securing their networks		Banks and telecom are heaviest spenders on security followed by the retail sector

Madhura Khasnobis

madhurak@cybermeedia.co.in