* What's up with Whale Communications?
SSL VPN vendor Whale Communications has a new CEO, Roger Pilc, former COO at software vendor SMARTS, which was bought by EMC in February.
It’s a critical time for Whale to bring in someone with a solid, even impressive business background. While the company has ranked as high as No. 2 in sales among SSL vendors, it dropped from No. 3 in 2003 to No. 4 in 2004, according to a recent Synergy Research report http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/vpn/2005/0328vpn2.html
Whale needs to stop this slide now. Already SSL VPN companies are disappearing, either through acquisitions, mergers or closing up shop. And the technology itself is starting to be incorporated in other networking devices, which has the potential to leave even quality competitors out in the cold.
It’s not clear yet what Pilc will do, but he needs to do something to turn things around. Not that the company is doing badly. It has a number of customers among businesses you have heard of including Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Hasbro, Krispy Kreme and Leows.
Along with the new CEO, Whale has acquired another $6.5 million in funding from reputable venture capital firms including Goldman Sachs, Soros Fund and the BRM Group.
It should take that money and sink it into some high-profile marketing so the name Whale pops to mind when IT directors think of SSL VPNs. It should also continue its R&D to keep competitive and possibly be ahead of other vendors in technology advances that can set it apart.
And it should do all this quickly. Now is not the time to try to build an SSL VPN company slowly because SSL companies are not so slowly vanishing.
