RSA Banks on Web Services

Reeling from a year of slumping revenue, layoffs and a restructuring, RSA Security Inc. is pinning its comeback hopes on the emerging market for Web services security products.

Demand for its core cryptographic solutions has dipped, and RSA managers said they believe that the companys future lies in selling authentication and authorization technologies.

“Our revenue is very much dependent on the expansion of Web services, so I think thats a great place to be,” said Art Coviello, CEO of RSA, in Bedford, Mass. “The surveys suggest security spending is a top priority and [authentication, authorization, administration] and encryption will be essential to what drives Web services.”

Coviello is counting on RSAs ClearTrust Web access management product and its Keon public-key infrastructure software to drive the companys growth. However, he said he does not believe this is something thats going to happen overnight.

“Were in a very difficult environment for selling enterprise software,” Coviello said. “[But] were in a sweet spot, and I told our employees that were going to build it from here. We just have to work through the difficult economic climate, and when it rebounds, well be one of the first beneficiaries.”

Coviello estimates that it will be six months to a year before there is a big spike in Web services deployments.

“Were on the upwardly steep part of the hype curve with Web services,” Coviello said. “This is not about selling a dollar for 90 cents on the Internet; its about creating more access points for intranet and extranet connections.”