Ensconce Data Technology (EDT), a global data destruction security vendor located in Portsmouth, N.H., is looking to expand its reseller base by finding partners to deploy its Digital Shredder, a device that destroys hard drive data beyond forensic recovery.
EDT was founded in 2002 and although it’s still a relatively new player in the market, the company has customers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea, Brazil and Australian regions. The company aims to target two market needs with its Digital Shredder solution: to properly decommission hard drives before they are disposed of or are redeployed, and to destroy lost or stolen hard drives.
Phil Bracco, president, CEO and founder of EDT, explains EDT found many hard drives that had reached their end of life capacity were often being stock piled under lock and key, were being placed in a vault to prevent anyone from accessing the data and some were even handed off to third party businesses to dispose of.
“The Digital Shredder deals with the sensitive issue of end of life hard drives. It’s a utility device that destroys data beyond forensic recovery,” Bracco said. “Deleting data is not destroying it; data still remains on the hard drive and can still be easily recovered using the right applications.”
Dan Schneider, executive vice-president and founder of EDT, says the Digital Shredder features a recognized technology known as Secure Erase, a process that enables the shredding of electronic data. In a collaborative effort which included: The Center for Magnetic Recording Research, The National Security Agency and hard drive manufacturers, the hard drive industry adopted ATA standards to include Secure Erase as an embedded component within the firmware of disk drives manufactured since 2001. EDT’s Digital Shredder utilizes the Secure Erase technology to purge data from these devices beyond forensic reconstruction.
“We had to come up with a methodology that allowed us to match different hard drive environments,” Schneider said. “Our methodology is not physical destruction, but instead, it destructs everything on the drive so the drive is reusable again. This is part of EDT’s green initiative and any and all hard drives can be used with the Digital Shredder.”
Schneider also says not many people are aware of the fact of the repercussions that they can face if data is leaked from the drive. These include identity theft and in most cases, legislative penalties.
“People are now being held accountable for how they handle data,” Schneider says. “EDT is in the compliance area and we believe we have the best practice when it involves end of life data.”
Ryk Edelstein, director of operations for Montreal, Que.-based Converge Net Inc., a technology solution provider and also a distributor of EDT products, is a strong believer in the Digital Shredder and says in many cases, there’ s a lot of confusion around the way in which a hard drive is to be destroyed.
“We found an exciting opportunity to deploy this product because it gives resellers the ability to build on sales they’ve already made,” Edelstein said. “If you’re a storage vendor, this is a great opportunity for you to sell the technology.”
Working hard to expand its North American presence, Edelstein is working with EDT to identify VARs across Canada and the U.S.
“Our strategy is to not put too many people in the market place in the same time,” Edelstein said. “We’re looking for strategic partnerships and vertical markets. We already have people in Quebec, Toronto and Ottawa and right now we’re looking to develop a partnership out in the West coast.”
While Schneider says Digital Shredder is perfect for anyone with a desktop computer, laptop and server, Bracco also mentions that even copy machines and multi-function-products (MFPs) include data that also needs to be eradicated before its disposal and/or redeployment. With a wide range of options, Edelstein says the technology itself is really better suited towards the medium to large enterprise markets.
“Small enterprises still need this, but I think the acceptance will really be with the mid to large size businesses purchasing on site services with data destruction,” Edelstein said.
Bracco says EDT’s sole mission is to partner with resellers who deal with specific vertical markets such as the financial, government and healthcare sectors. He says EDT’s channel plans include driving 85 per cent of the company’s annual unit sales through its reseller partners.
In an effort to achieve this, Bracco says EDT is aggressively targeting the channel.
“The company has now come of age to be able to engage with our resellers now.”
EDT has been involved with various reseller shows and has taken part in select e-mail campaigns, including follow-ups to help spread the word about its company and the Digital Shredder.
Along with a reseller program, EDT also offers partners videos, product tutorials, white papers, a reseller resource guide and access to a secure Web site. EDT offers partners margins ranging between the 20 to 25 per cent, margins that have not been seen since the 1980s and 1990s Schneider says.
“The biggest challenge customers have with the Digital Shredder is not with the technology itself, but it’s with fitting it in on an organizational standpoint,” Schneider says. “It’s a question of how do you get all of the folks on the same page, thinking the same thing?”
Schneider hints that a new product will soon be available to the market sometime during the second quarter of 2008 and would only say it will also deal with data destruction and with a computer.
“We’re looking to expand and built on our line,” Schneider says. “Digital Shredder is a single-point solution and soon we’ll be expanding it out to also work with peripheral devices like thumb drives,” he said.
