Company to watch in 2009: WorkLight, Inc

worklight_logoI meant to write about WorkLight last month but got caught up with things. As what happens every few weeks though, my attention has quickly been drawn back to the company again. In Jon Brodkin’s post on Network World earlier today, he listed the “Secure Web 2.0 for Business” Enterprise 2.0 company as one of 10 startups to watch in 2009. I couldn’t agree more.

WorkLight, Inc. seemed to have a stellar year in 2008, and as Web 2.0 in the enterprise continues to grow  in 2009 despite the economic downturn, there’s no reason not to think that it won’t repeat it, and more. Since the company first showed up on my radar as one of two Israeli demonstrators at the 2007 DemoGermany conference in Munich, the company has raised an impressive round of funding, been chosen as one of the top 10 web startups in Israel’s version of the TechCrunch and Demo conferences and just last month, and partnered with NetVibes to develop secure widgets for the enterprise among other news about the company.

The company’s software is customized for specific industries and, as such, has helped simplify and accelerate the embracing and integration of Web 2.0 in the enterprise. On its website, the company explains itself and its offerings as follows: 

“WorkLight® Inc. develops server software products that help businesses reach customers, channels, employees, and partners securely in the places they frequent online, such as iGoogle, Windows Live, desktop widgets, RSS readers, Facebook, even the Apple iPhone. Through WorkLight, people effortlessly get valuable information they desire, such as account status, product availability, or updates about their latest transactions. They can then take actions, for example order products or services, respond to promotions or offers, and consult with colleagues, without having to log into a portal or corporate web site. As such, WorkLight transforms consumer interfaces into enterprise-grade business tools that directly increase revenue.”

Here is an image from the site of how its products work.

howitworksimage4

Additionally, I’ve created a timeline of some of the WorkLight news that caught my attention in 2008

worklight2008_t

Company Facts

Founded in 2006.

Based in New York and Yakum, Israel.

Shahar Kaminitz, CEO and Co-Founder.

Doron Somer, Vice President of R&D.

Products: WorkBook, WorkLight for SAP, WorkLight for Technology Companies and WorkLight for Business Services.

Competitors include: Awareness Inc. and NewsGator Technologies Inc.

Customer industries: financial services, retail banking, manufacturing, book publishing, technology and IT services and utilities

Website: myworklight.com

Cyberterrorism against Israeli and American sites: How to Stay Secure

Since Israel began its operation in Gaza a week ago, over 300 sites have fallen victim to cyberattacks. Large Israeli company sites, such as Israel Discount Bank, Ynetnews and Israel’s largest domain registration site along with small Jewish community sites, including several religious ones in the US have been targeted. The main group behind several of these attacks, though far from the only one, is the infamous Moroccan group, TeamEvil, which also hacked some of the 750-plus Israeli websites before and during the Lebanon war in 2006.

Security analysts predict that American company websites will also be attacked in the next few weeks. For an article on the topic that appeared in SC Magazine last week, Dan Kaplan interviewed Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and John Kindervag, a senior analyst with Forrester Research who both made suggestions for preventing cyberattacks:

“Warner said website operators must secure common entryways for hackers, including vulnerable programming language, forum or blog software, image programs and utilities, such as website statistic applications. In addition, they must prevent the theft of FTP credentials, which are used to access sites and load content.

John Kindervag, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, said most websites are not built with security in mind. As a result, site owners should conduct a vulnerability assessment and, if they need immediate action, install a web application firewall, which can detect anomalous behavior.”

For more on the topic and to make sure your secure, you can check out the following sites:

10 Ways to Prevent Cyberterrorism

International Cooperation Needed To Prevent Cyberterrorism

Cyber Terrorism Threat Increasing – How To Prevent A Digital 9/11

Actimize and IBM minimize risk further with expanded risk management software partnership

actimize_logoActimize, a transactional risk management software company under NICE Systems, announced last week that it has embedded IBM’s InfoSphere Global Name Recognition (GNR) technology within the Actimize enterprise risk management platform “to enhance its analytical capabilities.”

According to the announcement,

GNR is an enterprise tool designed to help organizations understand, analyze and process multi-cultural names to provide name processing and matching capabilities for mission critical and corporate wide applications… [that] will help Actimize’s sophisticated analytical models focus more closely on the names of different customers, citizens, criminals and other individuals by examining and comparing them to different known names of good and bad entities.

Actimize’s risk management platform will mainly function by analyzing name order, multiple titles or prefixes, cultural spelling variations, possible transposition errors. Upon identifying a match when a transaction is made, the Actimize solution is able to then determine whether to approve, block or forward it.

Company Facts

Founded in 1999.

Headquartered in New York. R&D in Petach Tikva, Israel.

David Sosna, Co-Founder and CEO.

David Govrin, Co-Founder & General Manager, Israel.

Boaz Pe’er, Co-Founder & CTO.

Technology: Actimize risk management platform.

Website: www.actimize.com.

16 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of November 16, 2008

SNI-2.JPGFeatured during the week of November 16, 2008 were news of Michigan’s governor signing a water technology partnership agreement with Israel and news that Israel’s current drought is the worst its been in over 100 years. Security firm, Finjan announced that it raised $22 million and AOMi partnered with Cordys. Contradicting stories on the state of the Israel’s hi-tech sector from the Jerusalem Post and BusinessWeek also made the headlines. For these stories and more check out the headlines below.

Cleantech and Environment
1. Israel Facing Worst Water Crisis in More Than 100 Years

2. Mich. governor signs water technologies agreement

3. A Better Place In The San Francisco Bay Area

Investments and deals
4. AOMi Partners with Cordys to Enhance SaaS Business Model

5. ColdSpark Integrates Commtouch Messaging Security Suite into Mail Platform for Large Enterprises

6. Security firm Finjan raises $22 million

7. Boxee Raised $4M today

8. Taboola Funded for Video Recommendation Engine

Information Technology
9. Voltaire Powers World’s Largest Windows Supercomputer

10. HP and N-trig Deliver Innovative Hands-On Computing

11. WorkLight Helps Retail Banks Gain Edge by Embracing Secure Web 2.0

Miscellaneous
12. MSN Israel reborn

13. Infima Tech Introduces JPACK Compression Solution

14. Hard Times Hit Israel’s Tech Sector

15. US to lower Israeli airport’s safety ranking

16. Despite the tough times, Israel’s high-tech sector thrives

About the author:Lisa Damast is the Membership Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

*About the Weekly Headlines image: The Star of David in the image was found on Flickr and is used under the Creative Commons license. It was originally uploaded by Flickr member,zeevveez. The overall Weekly Headlines image was designed by Lisa Damast.

AlgoSec unveils new firewall analyzer product suite

March 18, 2008 by Lisa Damast · 1 Comment
Filed under: Information Technology 

AlgoSec_logo.png

Major IT media sources seem to be missing this, Firewall Operations and Security Risk Management solutions provider, AlgoSec Inc., unveiled its new AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer (AFA) product suite today.

According to the press release, which the company sent me,

“The
new suite, which improves the overall security and efficiency of
enterprise firewalls, is built on three distinct software modules, each
focused on addressing a specific set of technical requirements within
the enterprise: Firewall Operations Management, Policy Optimization and
Risk Management. Customers may purchase combinations of these modules
in four pre-bundled license editions according to their specific needs.
The four new editions of the AFA Product Suite are: the AFA Operations
Management Edition, the AFA Optimization Edition, the AFA Risk
Management Edition and the AFA Enterprise Edition.

The suite also now includes new features

“for automated PCI and SOX compliance reports plus Intelligent Rule Re-Ordering recommendations for improved firewall performance.”

AlgoSec prides itself on its offering IT security and operations professionals


unparalleled visibility and guidance to ensure their firewall policies
are secure and comply with corporate and government-mandated policies
while adhering to industry best practices.

Company Facts

Founded in 2003.

Yuval Baron, CEO and Co-Founder.

Avishai Wool, CTO and Co-Founder.

Product: AlgoSec Firewall Analyzer (AFA)

Website: www.AlgoSec.com

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

Companies in brief: Week of November 18th

November 24, 2007 by Lisa Damast · Comment
Filed under: Company Briefs 

During the week of November 18th, Israel’s technology sector saw cleantech and security companies gain more traction and Internet TV media management company, TVinci ink a deal with MTV Israel. It also saw the oldest pharmaceutical company, Merck, invest in R&D in Israel. For a full overview of the latest in technology news from Israel this past week, watch the slideshow below.