Intertrust Technologies Corporation has announced that it has grown its investor base as part of an expansion of its products and services supporting the Internet of Things (IoT).
The new investors led by Palo Alto and Tokyo-based venture fund WiL, and including innogy SE, Germany’s most valuable energy company, join existing shareholders, Philips, Sony and Stephens, Inc. Founded in 1990, Intertrust is a pioneer of many of today’s distributed operating system security technologies, including digital rights management, app store security, and trusted computing environments.
“Intertrust is delighted to welcome our new shareholders,” said Talal G. Shamoon, Intertrust’s chief executive officer. “We have always looked over the horizon to develop innovative solutions for Internet security and digital commerce. As the era of big data and the Internet of Things moves into high gear, demand for our products and services has blossomed, and we see growth potential across a wide range of vertical markets.”
Intertrust’s digital rights management and secure targeted advertising products are deployed globally. The company’s core security products such as software tamper resistance and digital certificates secure a broad range of third-party products ranging from media players and banking applications, to IoT products like cars and medical devices. Most of the world’s major device makers and technology platform providers have licensed Intertrust’s patents, which enable the security and rights management infrastructure of modern operating systems.
“WiL sees a huge opportunity in products that enable secure data exchange and interoperability,” said Gen Isayama, chief executive officer and founder of WiL. “Intertrust’s vast expertise in this domain, coupled with its current and future products, makes it an ideal leader to help enterprises manage, trade, and analyse their data.”
As the number of connected IoT devices has boomed, demand for Intertrust’s products has grown accordingly. These devices have also led to the phenomenal growth of sensitive data distributed across cloud services and enterprises. Intertrust’s products and services provide security for these devices, and governance and interoperability between these distributed data sets to help enterprises harness the information that surrounds them.
“The digital revolution will be the fundamental driver in reshaping the entire energy sector,” said Peter Terium, CEO of innogy SE. “Data processing is becoming the key to success. For this reason, innogy wants to make the generation and integration of top-class data the unique selling point of its business. Our strategic partnership with Intertrust will provide us with the technology, know-how, and digital infrastructure to maximise the value of our data-driven assets.”
In addition to growing existing business lines, Intertrust will use the new funds to commercialise a secure data platform developed for enterprises to better manage their own data, and also share and trade data with outside parties.
The uniquely robust security and advanced rights management capabilities offered by this new platform will allow enterprises to safely collaborate and trade data with partners and competitors. Intertrust plans to target the industrial and home IoT, and healthcare verticals, in addition to its traditional focus on media distribution and advertising.
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