Brown University has licensed a portfolio of Internet security technology to a group of entrepreneurs that has established IAM Technology Inc. The technology, developed by Brown Computer Science Professor Roberto Tamassia and associates, provides a rapid way to validate identity on Internet domains. Brown will retain an equity stake in IAM Technology.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Brown University recently announced that it has licensed a portfolio of Internet security technology to a group of entrepreneurs that has established IAM Technology Inc. As part of the agreement, IAM Technology is receiving a license to technology developed in Brown’s Center for Geometric Computing by Roberto Tamassia, professor of computer science and director of the center, and Michael Goodrich, a center associate who is a computer science professor at the University of California–Irvine. Brown will retain an equity stake in IAM Technology Inc.
The Brown technology, known as the Secure Transaction Management System (STMS), facilitates rapid, lightweight validation of identity assertions on the Internet and provides the basis for IAM’s products. STMS, a distributed and secure infrastructure, is the result of years of basic research supported by a DARPA grant and funding from the National Science Foundation.
IAM Technology addresses a $50-billion problem of domain integrity on the Internet, providing validation of user identity that is inexpensive and rapid. IAM Technology plans to offer a security appliance based on the Brown technology in early 2006, which could become commonplace to most enterprise networks. The startup company will support continued research at the Center for Geometric Computing by Tamassia and Goodrich and their research associates Danfeng Yao and David Ellis, both Brown students.
“The evolution of this company and its product has been most exciting for Brown,” said Charles Kingdon, associate vice president for technology partnerships at Brown. “What started as a review of technology for a targeted solution has evolved into a universal appliance for domain integrity. The demand for domain integrity and identity validation is urgent and has grown exponentially in recent years.”
IAM Technology is directed by a group of veteran Internet entrepreneurs including George McQuilken, former CEO of RSA Security and Security Dynamics; David Croston, former CEO of mPKI; Bill Nyhan, former general partner of Anconcagua Co.; and John H. Nuber, a leading technology innovator.
“This is an ideal partnership, which we believe represents the future of university-based technology commercialization,” said Croston. “This partnership began about one year ago with an option agreement that provided research funding to Brown for proof-of-principle and undertook collaborative analysis of the market. By supporting that ongoing research, our partnership led Brown and IAM Technology to the licensing agreement we are announcing today.”
IAM Technology is based in North Hampton, N.H., with research offices in Providence.
(from the Brown News Service)
