Threatscape Emerges From the aSHes

Old Systemhouse Technology Team is Reunited as Williams Builds New IT Security Company

Six years after selling Systemhouse Technology, IT security industry stalwart Dermot Williams is back, spearheading a new IT security company called Threatscape. Williams says Threatscape has already won a substantial number of blue-chip clients in its first few weeks of trading and has ambitious expansion plans, expecting it  to turn over €3m this year.

Threatscape will be focused on IT security solutions and Williams expects  to have doubled its headcount by the end of 2010. Established and funded by Williams, Threatscape already employs seven people, with the core team comprising the  former colleagues who worked with him for many years in Systemhouse.

Williams set up Irish IT Security company Systemhouse Technology Group back in 1988, and turned it into a highly successful company which he sold to Top Security Group in 2004. The firm had grown under his leadership to employ more than two dozen staff - many of them highly trained IT security specialists.  Systemhouse Annual profits had exceeded a million euros before his departure in February 2008, just  as the firm approached its 20th anniversary.

Joining Williams at Threatscape are a core management team who have collective experience of more than 50 years in IT security. They are Colin Reid as Commercial Director, Eddie Lyons as Sales Director, Alan Roche as Technical Director and Wendy Williams as Finance Director. They will all own stakes in the new enterprise.

Last month all former Systemhouse staff were made redundant after the High Court in Dublin appointed David Van Dessel of Kavanagh Fennell as liquidator to the company, which  had been trading as Topsec Technology since November 2004, reflecting the branding of its new owners' IT security division.

Commenting on how his new venture came about Williams said: "It came as a very big surprise to see this great company fold after so many successful years. Having built up the business I knew its greatest asset and main factor in its prior success was the expertise and experience of its team. I sounded out a number of them and six calls and six acceptances later, I realised I had a compelling opportunity  to not only re-enter the market, but to work with a group of people I know and trust and whose futures looked uncertain only a few weeks ago."

"Security is a trust business and trust takes a very long time to win, build and maintain. For the 20 years running Systemhouse, the team and I forged strong relationships with customers and vendors alike. This was key to Systemhouse's success and it  will also be what makes Threatscape a success going forward," Williams continued.

After forming Threatscape, Williams then took the logical step of submitting a bid to the liquidator, who had announced his intention of selling all the assets of Systemhouse (including stocks, fixed assets, customer base, business and goodwill) in a single transaction. His bid was successful, and a contract for the sale is being finalised.

Threatscape has already signed up numerous large customers and is offering services that  include anti-virus, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Network Access Control (NAC). Williams puts this early success down to the people behind the company and their established customer relationships, strong track records and reputations.

Threatscape also operates in the data communications market, supplying communications hardware and logistics services to carriers and ISPs - and Williams reports that that part of the business has also "hit the ground running".

Threatscape has moved into new offices in Sandyford, and Williams believes he can make it a bigger success than his first company, in part by maximising the contacts  he built up during two years of consultancy work for clients outside Ireland since leaving Systemhouse.

"The broadened horizons this has brought makes me confident not only that Threatscape has bright prospects - but that much of its future success will lie in growth outside Ireland, exporting Irish IT security expertise to markets in the UK and further afield," says Williams.

 "I see considerable opportunity for Threatscape to grow bigger than Systemhouse ever was, and look forward to working with many of the new contacts I've dealt with over the past few years. The future is very bright and I very much relish this opportunity," he concluded.

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