Post
Monday, May 16, 2005; E05

Name: Fidelis Security

Systems Inc.

Location: Bethesda

Funding: In March, the company raised $4.1 million from Inflection Point Ventures, Ascent Venture Partners, and the Maryland Business and Economic Development Department.

Who's in charge : Timothy Sullivan, co-founder, chief executive, president; Gene Savbchuk, co-founder, chief technology officer; Bill Haase, senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Big idea: Most computer security software prevents unauthorized users from breaking in and tracks who is trying to get through firewalls. "What makes us different is that we can detect and prevent transfers of sensitive information across all channels running across the network," Sullivan said. "We answer the question of what's getting out, whether through e-mail, instant messages, FTP, chats, you name it."

How it works: Fidelis installs what it calls "network sniffers" on a network's exit points, typically anywhere firewalls are installed. The firm's technology analyzes data flow and can instantly stop sensitive data from being improperly transferred. "We don't care whether someone hacks in or if it's an insider," Sullivan said. "Let's say we see an instant message that contains a compressed file, that contains a spreadsheet, that contains identity information on it -- credit cards, for instance. In real time, we can decode the file, decompress the file, strip out the Excel format, and then make a policy decision about whether to block the transfer."

Where was the idea hatched: "In my living room," Sullivan said. Originally, the idea was to build a next-generation system to prevent intrusions. But one day Sullivan's tech experts wondered about information leaving the network. "A light bulb went off," he said. "We decided to call it extrusion prevention."

Founded: 2002

First customer: D.C. public schools.

Other customers : Alexandria public schools, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Barak Telecommunications.

Partners: IBM Data Governance Council, SMS Data Products Group.

Price : Installation costs $100,000 per network exit point. "We install wherever you see a firewall," Sullivan said. The average selling price is $500,000 for a perpetual license.

Employees: The company plans to grow to 30 from 10 over the next six months.

What the name means : "I'm a former Marine and so the motto of the Marines is Semper Fidelis, which means 'always faithful,' " Sullivan said. "I always wanted to name a company Fidelis. Since I founded it, I had the right to name it."

Quote: "What the market today is coming to realize is that they need to be looking at what's getting out. Looking at who is getting in is only an indirect method of looking at what might be getting out," Sullivan said.

-- Michael S. Rosenwald