Startup Of The Week: Code Green Networks Helps Stop Data Leaks

If loose lips sink ships, then loose data can sink enterprises. Code Green Networks' data loss prevention appliances help companies ensure that sensitive information doesn't slip out via communication channels such as e-mail or on removable media devices. And built-in e-mail encryption enhances message security. --Andrew Conry-MurrayCODE GREEN NETWORKS

HEADQUARTERS Santa Clara, Calif.

PRODUCT The CI-1500 and CI-750 Content Inspection Appliances

PRINCIPALS Sreekanth Ravi, co-founder, chairman, and CEO; Sudhakar Ravi, co-founder and CTO

INVESTORS Bay Partners, Sierra Ventures

FUNDING $32 million

EARLY CUSTOMERS Sourcefire, Signal Financial Federal Credit Union

WHAT'S DIFFERENT?

Code Green Networks aims squarely at small and midsize companies, those with between 50 and 5,000 employees. Priced starting at $10,000, Code Green's appliances are within reach of most budgets. The company claims to be the only vendor to offer e-mail encryption built into the appliances, through partnerships with Cisco Systems and VoltageBACKGROUNDCode Green isn't the first company for founders and brothers Sreekanth and Sudhakar Ravi. They founded SonicWall, a maker of firewall appliances for SMBs. They grew SonicWall into a $100 million business and took it public in 1999. They're now taking the tenets of the appliance model--easy deployment and setup--to the data loss prevention market. The brothers both hold BS degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Sudhakar also has an MS from Stanford. WHAT'S MISSINGComprehensive data loss prevention offerings should control the use of sensitive data everywhere. Code Green currently can't stop users from e-mailing data when they're outside the corporate network. CONTROL KNOBSLike other products for data loss prevention, Code Green's appliances fingerprint sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, then apply policies (for example, block or encrypt) if users attempt to send that information outside the network. The latest version tackles Web mail. In conjunction with a third-party Web proxy, IT can now monitor Web mail and enforce appropriate policies. Code Green also has added Bayesian classification to monitor for content by type, rather than just by fingerprint. TIMELINE