have'ne seen this article mentioned at all, its a week old but still a good read....thanx to tommy for finding it...
Secret men's business
By Adam Turner
November 2, 2004
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Senetas boss Francis Galbally keeps the company's secrets. Photo: Rodger Cummins
It's hard to impress people by telling them you've sold millions of dollars worth of encryption hardware to "you know who" to protect their "you know what", but that's the challenge facing Australian security specialist Senetas.
Senetas clients include the US Department of Defence, Middle Eastern governments and Australian law enforcement. But loose lips still sink ships, and Senetas chief executive Francis Galbally is reluctant to give away too much.
Senetas security devices encrypt data running over dedicated high-speed networks and the US Department of Defence intends to use them to "secure military installations worldwide", Galbally says, choosing his words carefully.
The data encryptors are used locally by the Australian Federal Police and the Tax Office but the poker-faced Galbally gives away little more.
What is known is that the data encryptors are based on technology from Melbourne network security specialist CTAM, which was fully acquired by Senetas earlier this year. Like many tech ventures, Senetas was a mining company turned IT-related venture capital investor during the tech boom, and CTAM was one of its 10 investments when the internet bubble burst in 2000.
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AdvertisementAs the tech crash unfolded, Senetas changed from an investment group to an operating company for several of its subsidiaries, two of which formed the basis of a services arm while CTAM became a security products division.
Finding itself in the murky world of international security, Senetas hired several ex-military personnel to help commercialise the CTAM technology, including a former Defence Signals Directorate encryption expert.
Senetas also helps big corporations deal with corporate issues such as customer data protection and financial reporting - another area in which customers value their privacy.
Senetas hardware and professional services is used by US banks and by National Australia Bank, ANZ, Telstra, Coles Myer and Harvey Norman.
Four years after the initial CTAM investment, Senetas has returned its first profit, $3.19 million. Last month it signed an international distribution agreement with Nasdaq-listed SafeNet to distribute its latest hardware, capable of securing synchronous optical networks and synchronous digital hierarchy networks at speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second.
Heightened global security concerns, combined with an increased scrutiny of corporate finances, are creating plenty of opportunities for Senetas, Galbally says. He lists the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate compliance Act in the US and Australia's Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (CLERP 9) as key drivers.
Despite such opportunities, shareholder frustration at Senetas' languishing share price spilled over at last week's AGM. Galbally - a Melbourne lawyer and chairman of the company's three-man board - came under fire for the company's low profile, with angry shareholders blaming the secrecy surrounding many of Senetas' multimillion-dollar deals.
"We are forever criticised for the fact we do not give more information in relation to what we do. Many government organisations are reluctant to disclose the technology they use to secure their networks, so in a sense we are the world's best-kept secret," Galbally says.
"The Australian Federal Police was one of our first customers and has been using our technology for the last four years - just don't ask me what they do with it."
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