ENN, 11-10-2001, by Louise Carroll
Hitachi's research and development lab in Trinity College Dublin has contracted Irish company SureSkills to deploy a security solution from UK-based Vistorm. Hitachi has awarded the contract for an undisclosed amount to Vistorm to license its Internet security technology, which employees of SureSkills will integrate with the existing technologies at Hitachi's lab. Hitachi is conducting a genetic research project aimed at identifying life-threatening diseases in human DNA.
"The security of the data in question will be of immense importance," said Liam McKenna, business development manager of SureSkills. McKenna also said that Hitachi's decision to outsource to a managed security solutions provider is an endorsement of Vistorm's technology. "In pioneering new statistical analysis models, our focus is on creating the ideal environment in which our software can function with the maximum security possible," Dr. Martyn Field of the Hitachi laboratory added. Due to the sensitivity of analysing DNA for illnesses, the project requires very high levels of technical security, which the Vistorm solution intends to fulfil. The Vistorm technology will work in conjunction with Hitachi's technologies that perform rapid statistical analysis of multiple DNA samples. The analysis tries to identify trends and potential causes of disease.
Hitachi hopes to offer these combined technologies to research laboratories and pharmaceutical companies in a hosted form. The company intends to rollout the project in an ASP (application service provider) model, which it is currently piloting with Trinity College Dublin's School of Clinical Medicine at St. James's Hospital in Dublin.
The parties would not reveal details regarding the kinds of security technologies involved in the project, but they are believed to be part of the Vistorm range of solutions including VPN (virtual private network) security services and managed gateway security services.
Hitachi opened the research and development laboratory in Trinity College Dublin in 1989. The lab initially worked on artificial intelligence projects but in the mid-1990s turned its focus to high performance computing. The lab has shifted its priorities to bioinformatics in the past two years. SureSkills employs 80 in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Belfast. In May the company announced its expansion into Belfast, a move that was expected to create 50 new jobs. SureSkills was founded in 1993 and provides IT consulting, implementation, project management and training services to the Irish market.
SureSkills is at http://www.sureskills.ie and Vistorm is at http://www.vistrom.com.