AN IRISH software company has received a major boost, with a big US computer firm announcing that it would license its newest product. The decision by RSA Data Security will see Baltimore Technologies' encryption program used by millions of users around the world.
Baltimore, controlled by the financier, Mr Dermot Desmond and based in Dublin, designs programs allowing computer users to send coded messages via the Internet.
J/Crypto, the newest product, is the world's first to be based on the Java language, which has begun to dominate Internet development. It forms part of the J/Safe encryption package.
Comparing the transformation for his company wrought by the announcement to a soccer team going straight from the fourth division to the Champions' League, Baltimore's chief executive, Mr Fran Rooney, said he expected staffing numbers to treble to 100 by the end of the year.
RSA was the leading supplier of encryption technology in the United States, he said, and its move to license Baltimore's programme would mean millions of users within a short time.
"We are excited about working with RSA in delivering state of the art Java security to the North American market," Mr Rooney said. "We feel that the decision made by RSA to use J/Crypto as an integral part of J/Safe is a testament to our technical abilities."
Although Baltimore Technologies would not disclose how much the deal was worth, one industry analyst said it would be "in the millions of dollars".
Mr Rooney pointed out that because of a strict US government rule banning the export of "hard" encryption technology, RSA's licence covered only the United States. Multinational companies that bought J/Crypto for its American offices were likely to also want to purchase the programme for other workplaces, further increasing business for the Irish company, he added.
He said the company was also working on a new service on behalf of the European Commission which would allow the transfer of documents in coded farm to trusted contractors. The product would be ready by the autumn, he added.
The president of RSA, Mr Jim Bidzos, said the Irish firm was outstanding in the field of encryption software.
"In recent months, we've looked at a number of Java based technologies and have found Baltimore Technologies' J/Crypto to be a world class product," Mr Bidzos added.
