AlienVault Press – Cinco Dias

Press Reprint: Cinco Dias on AlienVault

Printed: Thursday August 12, 2010

Publication: Cinco Dias

Author: Maruxa Ruiz del Árbol

(For the original Spanish article please see: http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/empresas/Regala-producto-venceras/20100812cdscdiemp_22/cdsemp/)

Imagine that tomorrow your orchard is dedicated to giving away the most common items, such as pears, apples and bananas, and decide
to collect only exotic fruits, the most difficult to find. In Spain, an internet security firm has grown exponentially since its founding in 2007
applying a similar model. In that year there were 2 workers and 360,000 euros in revenue: in 2010 there will be 50 and an estimated 4
million billed. And 99% of their customers protect their networks with a free open source version of the company’s software. Only 1% are
paid clients, but they get much more sophisticated protection with the commercial offering.

Metro Madrid

The magic of open source companies is that, despite being free, they are not amateur. On the contrary, in many cases they
have succeeded in gaining the confidence of prestigious organizations, gaining ground in the majors. But how do companies
such as NASA, Telefónica, the U.S. Navy or Metro de Madrid decide to go into the hands of a company like
AlienVault? Metro de Madrid, one of their paying customers in Spain has some answers.

According to Fernando Galindo, Head of Communications and Metro systems, the company used the free OSSIM for two
years. "After that, we saw that the product is molded perfectly to our requirements, but we needed something more than is
available in the free version. In those two years we worked with the AlienVault support for the development of probes and we
learned a lot about the company and the product, and we decided to step up to the paid version." The company’s
applications are very specific and focused on the railway world and they were in need of a product suitable for a very specific
area: the very infrastructure of the Metro train network in Madrid. "At this point, the open source world has met one of its
objectives. The Linux world gives us the flexibility to develop custom applications, and the robustness of systems that
support the traffic and real time process required in any transportation company - where the important fact is the present or
the past nor the future, only the present - controlling at any time the circumstances that may arise, "said Galindo.

The department of communications and the Madrid Metro system is responsible for a huge computer network that had to
coordinate the ethernet network and fiber optics (the second largest communications network, after Telefónica) and wireless
networks with those working in Metro a few years ago as well as radio systems used to communicate with the trains. They
are also responsible for the operation of video cameras, systems responsible for the operation of trains along the tracks,
video cameras, turnstiles, vending, information posters on trains, etc. "We needed a flexible tool that could be easily modified
to adapt to each of our needs and, above all, work in real time. It was finally decided to use the OSSIM tool by AlienVault
because we are very comfortable in the open source world based on our previous experience, and because the reputation of
this tool in use at other companies has been irreproachable." So, before going to pay for the security system the company
consulted with companies like Telefónica who had implemented this technology to good effect.

AlienVault, LLC
1901 S. Bascom Avenue C/ Cronos, 63 2ª-6ª Planta
Suite 220 CP: 28037
Campbell, CA, 95008 Madrid
USA Spain
 +1 408 465-9989  +32 91 515 1344
www.alienvault.com
 Although AlienVault was founded only three years ago, look back to 2000 to understand the fundamentals of their
success. At the time, Dominique Karg and Julio Casal, the founders of the company, opened an open source forge
called OSSIM (Open Source Information Management) to share security products to protect people from hackers on
the Internet. What began as a personal research project became, after seven years, the first free security company in
the world for large companies and large networks. AlienVault does not sell security solutions from a single function
but for complex networks composed of many interconnected computers. Today the program is downloaded 40,000
times a year, representing 50% of Security Information and Event (SIEM) installations in the world (although the
majority are Open Source).

The winning concept for the company and the customer is the same model made popular by the networking
operating system Linux, to which many users contribute a little, improving the product. Thanks to Linux these armies
of ants are making a match in strength and spread against the great lions of the business. Linux and Microsoft will
gain ground, while AlienVault rises in its segment with IBM and McAfee. "The key is achieving savings in marketing
and development, thanks to the open source community, and having a disruptive offer - up to 90% cheaper in many
cases," explains Julio Casal, founder of AlienVault. Thanks to Open Source OSSIM, the company has been growing
bigger and becoming more well-known without spending money on advertising. "The massive usage of our product,
with tens of thousands of people around the world, has made us famous for providing very strong functionality," said
Casal.

After seven years offering a free product Casal and his partner, Dominique Karg, decided that OSSIM was ripe to
launch a commercial company to capture the potential business. The business model is to convert some of these
Open Source installations to the professional version, be it software or hardware, and sell support and training
services. This turned out to not be very difficult for certain customers. "After so many years companies have a
relationship with you, they trust themselves and they are the ones you ask for improvements. Like, for example, to be
able to call a number 24 hours a day and have professional support or developing a product designed to be
customized."

In addition, AlienVault provides training courses for specialists in computer security. These classes last a week and are
for engineers, analysts and security companies. In some cases these companies have ended up becoming partners
AlienVault.

Today AlienVault has about 40 people in 12 countries including two offices in Spain and one in the U.S. Offices this
year have been financed with four million dollars to move forward with international expansion. Next year will come
India, Colombia and Brazil.

AlienVault, LLC
1901 S. Bascom Avenue C/ Cronos, 63 2ª-6ª Planta
Suite 220 CP: 28037
Campbell, CA, 95008 Madrid
USA Spain
 +1 408 465-9989  +32 91 515 1344
www.alienvault.com