New i OS Security Firm to Offer Multiple Wares, Services

September 15, 2009 Dan Burger

Cilasoft an international software company based in France that specializes in security, audit, and compliance software for the IBM Power Systems server (also known as the System i, iSeries, and AS/400) platform, has contracted with IT Security and Compliance Group to build sales in the U.S. market. Cilasoft has clients in more than 40 countries around the globe, ranging from small businesses to large multinational corporations, but has had minimal impact in the USA.

IT Security and Compliance Group is a new company led by Dan Riehl, a System i security expert and the founder of PowerTech Group, a provider of IBM i security software and services. Riehl and PowerTech parted ways earlier this year following the acquisition of PowerTech by Audax Group, an investment capital group that also owns Help/Systems and Bytware. The acquisition of PowerTech was reported in the August 18, 2008, edition of The Four Hundred e-mail newsletter, a sister publication of Four Hundred Stuff.

IT Security and Compliance Group specializes in security audits, security level upgrades, single sign-on, custom exit program development, and security education and training. The training aspect is tied in with another Riehl venture, The 400 School.

Although IT Security and Compliance Group has taken a services-oriented approach up to this point, the partnership with Cilasoft is an important ingredient according to Riehl. He describes Cilasoft’s database monitoring tool, QJRN/400, as “the best he has seen” and one that fills in a gap that many companies currently have in their security arsenals.

A second tool in the Cilasoft product lineup is CONTROLER, a tool for controlling and monitoring STRSQL, ODBC, DRDA, TELNET and CL command usage.

“Cilasoft has introduced a completely new paradigm in its CONTROLER and QJRN/400 products,” Riehl says. “They make auditing and controlling these interfaces highly customizable, yet simple enough so you do not have to be a System i technical expert to configure the monitoring and protection required in today’s heavily regulated environments.”

The main advantage, as Riehl sees it, relates to the level of granularity applied to the control and the capability to reveal information that otherwise would require a great deal of effort to uncover.

In addition to serving as the head of operations for Cilasoft in the United States, IT Security and Compliance Group also has referral agreements for products that he recommends from companies such as PowerTech, Bytware, Help/Systems, Patrick Townsend Security Solutions, and Skyview Partners.

Riehl explains that many companies have pieces of an end-to-end security solution, and that IT Security and Compliance Group will offer the best solutions from several vendors to fit the needs of its customers.

“I’m looking at a broad range of products and recommending the best that I’ve seen,” Riehl says. “I have the flexibility to put together the best of many vendors as opposed to the single-vendor approach. The freedom to do that is one of the things I cherish–the independence to choose software from multiple vendors.”

For Cilasoft, a company that has made its early forays into the U.S. market with a presence at a couple of COMMON conferences and a series of Webinars, the arrangement with IT Security and Compliance Group is the next step.

Cilasoft president Guy Marmorat describes Riehl as having the experience and business savvy to benefit Cilasoft in the U.S. security software marketplace. And he adds that Cilasoft will have major product announcements coming before the end of the year.