Brian NeSmith, Former CEO of Blue Coat Systems and Ipsilon Networks, to Lend Expertise to Fast Growing Enterprise Encryption Vendor
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Dec. 6, 2011 – Thales, Inc., the leader in enterprise systems encryption and key management, today announced that technology visionary and serial entrepreneur Brian NeSmith has joined the company’s Board of Directors effective immediately. Mr. NeSmith led Blue Coat’s meteoric rise to market prominence and successful IPO as CEO and President, and was also CEO of IP Switching pioneer Ipsilon Networks which was acquired by Nokia. He will provide strategic counsel to Thales management.
“Brian is one of the most successful technology entrepreneurs of the internet era, and helped create several product categories in the enterprise market,” said Richard Gorman, CEO of Thales, Inc. “His management and technology expertise, market vision, and industry contacts will play an instrumental role in helping Thales extend its leadership position in the data security market. We are fortunate to have Brian on Thales Board of Directors.”
For more than 11 years, Mr. NeSmith was CEO of Blue Coat Systems, the current market leader in content and web security. During that time he managed the company’s IPO (under the CacheFlow name), and later refocused the company on the security market under the Blue Coat brand. From 2002 to 2004 he grew the business from $40M/year to $500M/year and 1300 employees. He currently serves on the company’s board of directors. Prior to Blue Coat, Mr. NeSmith was CEO of Ipsilon Networks, the pioneer of IP Switching technology. In 1997, Ipsilon was acquired by Nokia, where its products became the basis for the market-leading Nokia firewall appliance. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Newbridge Networks’ Local Area Networking business, VIVID, and served as the unit’s first general manager. Mr. NeSmith holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Thales has developed a transparent and non-intrusive approach to data security that is exceptionally scalable. The company is hitting its stride just as encryption is becoming required technology for privacy protection, brand defense and regulatory compliance,” said Mr. NeSmith. “I look forward to working with Thales management team and helping them capitalize on what is a very large and growing market opportunity.”
About Thales
Thales is the leader in enterprise system encryption. The Vormetric Data Security product line provides a single, manageable and scalable solution to manage any key and encrypt any file, any database, any application, anywhere it resides— without sacrificing application performance and avoiding key management complexity. Some of the largest and most security conscious organizations and government agencies in the world, including 7 of the Fortune 20, have standardized on Thales to provide strong, easily manageable data security. Thales technology has previously been selected by IBM as the database encryption solution for DB2 and Informix on LinuxTM, Unix® and Windows; and by Symantec to provide the Symantec Veritas NetBackupTM Media Server Encryption Option. For more information visit https://cpl.thalesgroup.com/.
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Thales is a trademark of Thales, Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.