Wave Announces Expansion into EMEA


Tuesday, December 20, 2011 by Wave Systems

Wave Systems today announced the company's expansion into Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to capitalise on the growing demand for trusted computing security to help organisations thwart the rise in cyber threats and comply with EU data protection regulations.

To drive the expansion, Wave has named IT security veteran Joseph Souren, MBA, as vice president and general manager, EMEA, to execute the sales strategy and build out the company's channel program. Most recently, Mr Souren served as VP of CA Technologies' internet security business unit.

Wave already has a strong presence in Europe through customer relationships that include BASF, the world's largest chemical company, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the world's largest tax advisory and professional services firm. Further fueling Wave's expansion in the region is the addition of DLP provider Safend, acquired by Wave last month. Safend has a broad customer base in the region and a well-established channel and reseller program, especially among value added resellers (VARs).

"EMEA is a critical market for Wave and we're committing greater resources and personnel to expand our customer base there," commented Brian Berger, Wave's executive vice president of marketing and sales. "With yesterday's security failing organisations at an alarming rate, it's increasingly clear that organisations need a better approach, one rooted in hardware, to secure their networks and protect their data. Wave brings the knowledge and experience to provide businesses with the framework to establish a known computing environment."

Unlike most security vendors that seek to protect information by adding layers of software, Wave leverages the security capabilities built directly into endpoint computing platforms themselves -- so that the data, the device and its integrity are all known. Wave does this by managing hardware security such as the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a security chip standard on business-class PCs that can be used to establish device identity. In conjunction with Wave software, the TPM can signal the presence of malware lurking in the host system that can evade commercially available anti-virus software.

Wave also helps organisations protect sensitive data, even when a laptop is lost or stolen. Wave's unified management platform manages self-encrypting drives (SEDs), where encryption is built into the hard drive itself. Available from the leading storage vendors, SEDs conform to the Opal storage specification, established by the Trusted Computing Group, for which Wave is a founding member and permanent member of the Board of Directors.

"As part of this expansion, I'm pleased to announce the addition of Joseph Souren to lead the Wave team in EMEA," Mr Berger continued. "His impressive industry credentials, deep understanding of the security market and strong record of channel development will foster Wave's continued international growth."

Mr Souren has more than 18 years of experience in the enterprise software and IT security markets, where he has managed sales, marketing, channels and operations. He has served in various management roles at NASDAQ 100 companies including SanDisk and McAfee and, most recently, at CA Technologies.

"I joined Wave for one reason, it has unrivalled expertise, knowledge and technology to uniquely address the crisis in global network security," Souren said. "Wave offers a framework for establishing greater security, ensuring that data thieves cannot steal the 'crown jewels' of the organisation, its intellectual property. We are committed to retaining and expanding the current channel program, and add local support resources. The VAR channel is especially important in EMEA."

Joining Mr. Souren is Graeme Rowe, who joins Wave as EMEA Marketing Director. Mr Rowe previously worked with Cisco Systems, where he served as European Marketing Manager, Cisco Security. He's also served as North European Marketing Manager at IronPort Systems and as Marketing Director at Posetiv.

Wave plans to continue building its expert team in EMEA with further appointments planned by the end of 2011. Wave's regional offices are located in London, UK, Frankfurt, Germany and Nantes, France, with a support centre in Dietikon Switzerland. Wave's Safend subsidiary is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.