Pinkerton-Led "Federation" of Security Companies Moves to the Cloud

A coalition of security technology companies today unveiled The Vigilance Federation—an online intelligence service available through a single subscription out of the cloud. The service offers security intelligence tools and capabilities previously found only in government agencies and very large multinational corporations.

Led by Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management—the nation's oldest professional protection firm, and one whose pioneering use of security technology dates back to the telegraph—The Vigilance Federation provides "a digital utility belt for people who take enterprise security risks seriously," said Robert Dodge, Senior Vice President of Pinkerton. "The Federation delivers technology, information and analysis from six different companies, fused together as a service. We're breaking new ground in the security industry—and are excited to be extending the reach of potentially life-saving security information and services to a full spectrum of large, mid-sized and small companies, and even individual customers."

The Federation uses Swan Island Networks' TIES® software as its common technology platform. TIES® was developed during six years of government-sponsored research projects, funded by U.S. defense and intelligence agencies. The Federation's TIES® platform is hosted in Windows Azure because, according to Swan Island Networks CEO Charles Jennings, "Windows Azure provides us with the highest possible security. And, it offers full cloud agility and scalability—both of which are critical in emergencies."

Hosted in Microsoft's highly secure Windows Azure cloud, The Vigilance Federation's features include global situational awareness dashboards; GPS tracking; targeted global satellite imagery; explosives detection service; cloud-based video surveillance; real-time cyber intelligence; "person-of-interest" link analysis visualization...and a whole menu of security services never before available to small and mid-sized businesses.

The Vigilance Federation recently passed its first real-world test when it was used extensively and successfully at the recent G8/NATO Summit in Chicago. It will also be used by a group of large company customers, and certain government agencies, and at both the Democrat and Republican conventions later this summer.

"Pinkerton's new federation is an example of the kind of collaborative innovation that is now possible in the cloud," said Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Hamilton, Director, Product Marketing, Windows Azure. "We are pleased this group of security companies chose Windows Azure because of its high security standards."

"We joined the Federation," said David Ly, CEO of Iveda Solutions, an international cloud video surveillance company, "because the concept of bundling a wide variety of security services in one integrated feed made a lot of sense. Our customers want agility, economy and a single point-of-purchase, and the Federation delivers all three."