SoftPro plans to launch security platform

City-based, SoftPro Systems Limited, a systems service provider, plans to launch the base version of an integrated security platform built with open source security tools called SmartNsecure in the next couple of weeks.

Venkata Rao Mallineni, president and chief executive officer, SoftPro Systems Limited told Business Standard that the base version of the platform which is at present going through trial runs would be launched in the next four to six weeks.

According to him, this platform had six key components that are required for any enterprise network security and include a firewall, patch and patch management, anti-virus, intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) and security policy management modules.

According to Mallineni the key features of SmartNsecure are that it supports network address translation (NAT), uses stateful packet inspection (SPI), which provides more effective protection than static rules and reports as well as logs would be provided in the form of graphs and charts by the system on user demand.

The company for the financial year ended March 31, 2004 recorded a turnover of Rs 6 crore with a net profit of Rs 33 lakh.

Mallineni said that the turnover would cross Rs 10 crore this fiscal with the new products and projects that are in the pipeline.

"We are also working on some key e-government initiatives in India and Europe to deliver solutions using open source software (OSS)," Mallineni said.

The company is at present working on small and mid-sized products with companies in Denmark and Sweden also.

The company is also working on the second version of a product content management solution which it developed for telcos in Norway.

"During the last two months, our engineers are working with a company in the Netherlands on helping them create virtual city models," Mallineni said.

The company also has entered into a joint venture project with the Norway government to train creative engineers and in building virtual cities.

The company is in the early stages of development of a platform to automate the support processes of an enterprise called SupportPro. According to Mallineni, the platform enables support teams to utilise various functions like help desk and knowledge base creation as an integrated environment.

Speaking about the consortium of information technology companies which was formed last year, Mallineni said: "The consortium which started with nine companies has now gone up to 12 with one company each from Chennai and Pune joining in."

" Though the consortium is working well in helping small and mid sized companies take on big companies, it would take at least another year for the integrated deliver in the value chain to work more efficiently," he added.

According to Mallineni the pricing that a customer has to pay depends on the strength of the marketing team and it left to the individual member of the consortium to quote his price.

The company which at present has 100 employees plans to increase the headcount by around 30 during the year.

"Though many see the strength of the organisation as only 130, the whole strength including of those in the consortium is around 1,500, which is a good number as per the industry standards," Mallineni said.

"We are also releasing a white paper on open source technologies for the man on the street to understand what this means by the end of the month," Mallineni said.