Voltage Security Looks For Spark

Though executives at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor remain tight-lipped about details, Scott Edgington, senior vice president of worldwide sales and field operations, said earlier this month that the company plans to formally announce the program by Jan. 31. "We want to get to the point where we're selling almost predominantly through the channel," he said. "Moving forward, indirect sales will be our preferred method of distribution."

The Voltage Security Platform solution hinges on software technology called Identity-Based Encryption. Invented by company founders Dan Boneh and Matt Franklin in 2001, the cryptography-based solution enables people to use an identity, such as an e-mail address, to secure business communication.

Unlike existing security solutions, this business communication can be conducted online as well as offline, without the complexity of certificates, keys, certificate revocation lists or other infrastructure.

According to Wasim Ahmad, vice president of marketing at Voltage, the solution is perfect for verticals such as health care and finance, where new federal regulations require strict compliance with privacy and security standards.

"When your organization needs to send an e-mail securely and you don't want to disrupt the way your employees go about their jobs, this is the best way to do it," Ahmad said.

Voltage has inked deals with a handful of solution providers to resell its encrypted e-mail service.

Secure Netcom just started reselling the solution in an ASP model for $18 per seat, said President Don Kirk. The Atlanta-based solution provider, which sells mostly to health-care organizations, is marketing the solution as a way to comply with HIPAA, Kirk said.

"If you have to comply with regulations, you might as well do it in a way that's going to be cost-affordable," he said. "That's where this service can come in."