IT Matrix -- Ensuring Information Security Needs of Saudi Arabia's Top Firms
Saudi Arabia is known as one of the world's most aggressive consuming economies but as a producing economy the Kingdom lags behind. Yes, companies in the Kingdom produce petroleum and petrochemicals and there are limited amounts of industry and manufacturing. But most Saudi companies are only interested in engaging in trade or service activities of one sort or another. There are only a few leading Saudi companies actively involved in research and development activities. That's a pity because it has long been proven that to succeed at the global level companies and nations must do more than sell the ideas of others.
According to a recent report by Madar Research, average spending on R&D by Arab countries is estimated at 0.2 percent of total Arab GDP, the lowest in the world and eight times lower than the world average. Developing countries, other than the Arab states, are estimated to allocate 0.6 percent of their GDP to R&D, which is three times higher than the Arab average.
These low levels of local R&D activity were behind the decision six years ago for IT Matrix, a local Saudi IT security company, to begin R&D and to work toward creating a world class e-mail security technology. The effort went in stages and earlier this year IT Matrix successfully announced the release of Secure MailMatrix Version 2.0. IT Matrix has come a long way toward proving that Saudi IT companies are capable of performing R&D and producing technologies with competitive advantages for corporate customers.
The history of IT Matrix is quite diverse. Back in 1984, they were one of the very first companies to introduce IBM compatible computers in the Saudi market. Working under the name "Bits & PCs" they would be well remembered by people who bought their first PC in Saudi Arabia as "EXPRESS" brand. By the late 1980s, the company name was changed to PC World and the focus was on introducing networks to local Saudi companies. In the mid-1990s this focus was shifted to selling total solutions and PC World was well respected as an IT integrator and solution provider. The year 1997 was a major turning point.
The company decided that there was a major weakness in the market offerings in the area of IT security. All reports and analyses showed that there was a growing need for IT security but in the Saudi market no firm was offering to fulfill that need exclusively. Therefore in 1997, the company's name was changed yet again from PC World to IT Matrix and the focus was put onto information security technologies.
"All these years working to represent and resell products of vendors from outside our region, we were quite concerned about asking local companies to adopt certain technologies even at times when these did not fit well with their real needs," explained Mirza Asrar Baig, a graduate of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and CEO of IT Matrix. "As we had always looked at ourselves as being on the cutting edge and introducing new IT concepts, we felt the vacuum in R&D, specially with the advent of the Internet."
Corporate antivirus was picked up as the company's first security solution initiative. IT Matrix became the first Saudi company promoting awareness of the coming threats of viruses and how corporate networks could mitigate this threat. Simultaneously e-mail security was selected for the technical research and development of an e-mail security firewall anticipating that a few years down the line the need for such a solution would become evident. The vision of the IT Matrix team must be commended. IT security is now a global concern and IT Matrix's vision in selecting e-mail security for their first R&D initiative has already proven its worth with the Saudi enterprise sector.
In the past seven years IT Matrix starting from antivirus solutions has covered a lot of ground. Firewall and intrusion detection solutions are another area of their expertise. Baig always emphasizes that any solution promoted by IT Matrix always focuses more on "People & Process" rather than technology.
"The number of large Saudi enterprises grows annually. As companies change from being sole proprietorships to partnerships and joint stock structures, data, brand and reputation become more important and must be protected.
Shareholder accountability comes into the equation," explained Baig. "You may have a million-dollar lock, but if the door is left open at the time when it should have been closed or the key is not in a secure place, the value of that investment is suddenly less than a $10 lock. This is where the information security consultancy being provided by IT Matrix gives value to our customers. IT Matrix has partnerships with some of the leading information security consultants in the world and we utilize those consultants to bring effective, efficient information security to leading Saudi firms."
But a company simply knowing their security needs is only the start. IT Matrix offers a Secure Operating Center for real-time network monitoring. IT Matrix's InfoMatrix is a service that advises network administrators and IT managers of coming threats and methods to mitigate the danger. And of course the IT Matrix team of experts is in the Kingdom, available 24x7, to ensure that the information security needs of Saudi Arabia's top firms are met.
Molouk Y. Ba-Isa, Arab News
© Arab News 2005
