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Spotlight on ISS: Atlanta’s Security Cluster

15 points by rjurney 17y ago

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
Spot on. Draw those graphs for other cities and you can see how strong they are as a startup community and/or a specific tech sector. Every city needs a patient zero company- one with a sizable exit that lets their founders invest back+create new startups in the area. I've often professed that sadly Miami has no patient zero in the web startup space. Silicon Valley can probably be tied back all the way to fairchild semiconductor.
- rjurney 17y ago
  Thanks! There's a poster of the 'Fairchildren' that inspired this one - that shows the explosion of companies from Fairchild Semiconductor (if anyone has a link, plz post it). There is also a more comprehensive poster of Atlanta technology companies - showing how they all trace back to MSA/Scientific Atlanta: http://www.charbaxter.com/timeline/timeline_poster.pdf http://www.charbaxter.com/timeline/timeline_poster.pdf I think you could monitor these graphs as they change and new 'root nodes' emerge, and you could early detect cluster formation and direct stimulus accordingly.
  - jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
    You're welcome! I would love to see a Grad research project and/or group of entrepreneur enthusiasts put a graph like this together for most startup cities. You could probably equate some mathematical values to it as well to give an overall "startup friendly" score. That might be hard to objectify though. Keeping it open is also key. Think about the past few years and what has happened. Within 2 months after selling Mint, Aaron Patzer already made his first angel investment.
    - rjurney 17y ago
      I'm hoping to construct one of these for Atlanta's clusters in finance and network hardware/software as well. In practice, they overlap a great deal. And I agree - I think that not only can you rate startup friendliness this way, but you can directly measure 'startup wealth' and detect cluster emergence.
      - celiadyer 17y ago
        Russell, this is an awesome and very thorough visualization and analysis of Atlanta's cluster of security-focused companies. Luckily for Atlanta, the emerging convergence of TV-mobile-computer to a single device presents a tremendous need for more and more security products. Too, the threat of Internet terrorism does the same. Great job. Fascinating visualization.
angelbob 17y ago
Paul Graham wrote about how the internet revolution may be relatively localized -- Silicon Valley doesn't need many competitors. He has a point, but this provides an interesting blueprint for an alternate vision. Specifically, when they talk about Security being a good match for the Atlanta mindset, they're giving an idea of how other regions can specialize themselves in a way that makes them more attractive to other companies. Granted, most attempts along these lines haven't done well. But it's heartening to see that Atlanta has.
tptacek 17y ago
First: in case you're wondering, this is not a complete or even representative history of the early days of ISS. I like Chris fine, but there was a long time ISS ran as a 2-3 person company and those people are the ones HN folks probably want to know about. Second, while I admire the analytic approach, the raw data here isn't very interesting: * Most of these companies went nowhere. * Many of them were never funded. * Some of them aren't really security companies (for instance, Sonicity, which I cofounded, and Zoompf, Billy Hoffman's web performance startup, which has existed for I think a couple of weeks now). * Most of them have nothing to do with ISS, and everything to do with GATech, which has been excellent on information security for a long time. Finally, it's worth pointing out that every other tech hub is also a security hub; you can draw similar graphs for Austin, Boston, and of course the Valley. Similarly, lots of other tech companies were funded in Atlanta. WheelGroup/Cisco, TippingPoint, RSA, and @Stake/Symantec also shed lots of little spinoff companies. At the end of the day, security products are just a uniquely easy way to suck large amounts of money out of large corporations using small dev teams and small direct sales teams. Some quick notes: * Zoompf isn't a security company. * WebTone isn't a securty company * VistaScape is physical/plant security, not IT * Starpound isn't a security company * Sonicity isn't a security company * Kaneva is Chris Klaus' video game company * Steelbox isn't a security company * Omnilink is a physical/plant security company, not IT * Virima isn't a security company And then: * ScannerX was a services company * RBTI was a VAR * Errata is a services company * Vigilar is a services company * Infoweapons is a VAR Finally: * NMotion never appears to have launched or gotten funded * I can't find Key Connections * Pramana doesn't appear to have gotten funding Some genuine Atlanta security startups w/ traction (he's not making up the fact that there is a security scene in Atlanta): * ISS (IBM) * SPI Dynamics (IBM) * CipherTrust (McAfee) * Damballa (still a going concern with serious funding) * Reflex (still a going concern [limping] with serious funding) * Oversight (and, actually an ISS relationship) I think he's got a point about Atlanta but a little bit less of a point about ISSX.
- rjurney 17y ago
  Its not possible to cover all aspects of a company in a couple of paragraphs, but if you look at the dates - they are entirely consistent with operating as a small company for 2-3 years: security scanner released in 1992, no funding until 1996. As to interest - maybe Hacker News is interested in the early days, but as that kind of thing is covered over and over it is of no interest to me. Thats not what I'm researching. Second: Most tech companies everywhere go nowhere. What is interesting is that in 1986 there were a lot of computer companies in Atlanta, but only (so far as I can tell) one security startup. ISS made the market hot, and a new cluster formed where there was not one before. As to the idea that work experience at a startup that sells for $1.3 billion has 'nothing to do with' it... I politely disagree. Whether you can draw a security hub in other places - you could NOT draw one in Atlanta before ISS. That is why it interests me - because it is new. As to its importance - I spoke with founders across the cluster, and yours is the first opinion that is so dismissive of ISS. As to your other comments, I'll just quote me, since you didn't read the article: "This is an incomplete founder map of security companies in Atlanta. Each link indicates that a founder worked at one company (as employee or founder), then went on to found another company. When 3+ executives came from another company, as in the case of Damballa, I’ve drawn a link and marked it as such. A few nodes are missing founder links, and that means I haven’t found any. Note that if you were to plot links between companies in terms of all employment, boards of directors, boards of advisors and investors, this web is so dense as to be incomprehensible. Also note: When founder paths cross in and out of the cluster, I’ve included the complete path, whether they remained in Atlanta or not. This means that a few of these companies, such as ZScaler, aren’t Atlanta companies, and that a few companies like Starpound, aren’t security companies." I'm actually particularly interested in offshoots that aren't security companies, as well as flows into this cluster, and so I've included them. And I haven't filtered small/failed startups, because they're still important in showing a vibrant ecosystem.

15 points by rjurney 17y ago

Spot on. Draw those graphs for other cities and you can see how strong they are as a startup community and/or a specific tech sector. Every city needs a patient zero company- one with a sizable exit that lets their founders invest back+create new startups in the area. I've often professed that sadly Miami has no patient zero in the web startup space. Silicon Valley can probably be tied back all the way to fairchild semiconductor.

rjurney 17y ago
Thanks! There's a poster of the 'Fairchildren' that inspired this one - that shows the explosion of companies from Fairchild Semiconductor (if anyone has a link, plz post it). There is also a more comprehensive poster of Atlanta technology companies - showing how they all trace back to MSA/Scientific Atlanta: http://www.charbaxter.com/timeline/timeline_poster.pdf http://www.charbaxter.com/timeline/timeline_poster.pdf I think you could monitor these graphs as they change and new 'root nodes' emerge, and you could early detect cluster formation and direct stimulus accordingly.
- jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
  You're welcome! I would love to see a Grad research project and/or group of entrepreneur enthusiasts put a graph like this together for most startup cities. You could probably equate some mathematical values to it as well to give an overall "startup friendly" score. That might be hard to objectify though. Keeping it open is also key. Think about the past few years and what has happened. Within 2 months after selling Mint, Aaron Patzer already made his first angel investment.
  - rjurney 17y ago
    I'm hoping to construct one of these for Atlanta's clusters in finance and network hardware/software as well. In practice, they overlap a great deal. And I agree - I think that not only can you rate startup friendliness this way, but you can directly measure 'startup wealth' and detect cluster emergence.
    - celiadyer 17y ago
      Russell, this is an awesome and very thorough visualization and analysis of Atlanta's cluster of security-focused companies. Luckily for Atlanta, the emerging convergence of TV-mobile-computer to a single device presents a tremendous need for more and more security products. Too, the threat of Internet terrorism does the same. Great job. Fascinating visualization.

angelbob 17y ago

Paul Graham wrote about how the internet revolution may be relatively localized -- Silicon Valley doesn't need many competitors. He has a point, but this provides an interesting blueprint for an alternate vision. Specifically, when they talk about Security being a good match for the Atlanta mindset, they're giving an idea of how other regions can specialize themselves in a way that makes them more attractive to other companies. Granted, most attempts along these lines haven't done well. But it's heartening to see that Atlanta has.

tptacek 17y ago

First: in case you're wondering, this is not a complete or even representative history of the early days of ISS. I like Chris fine, but there was a long time ISS ran as a 2-3 person company and those people are the ones HN folks probably want to know about. Second, while I admire the analytic approach, the raw data here isn't very interesting: * Most of these companies went nowhere. * Many of them were never funded. * Some of them aren't really security companies (for instance, Sonicity, which I cofounded, and Zoompf, Billy Hoffman's web performance startup, which has existed for I think a couple of weeks now). * Most of them have nothing to do with ISS, and everything to do with GATech, which has been excellent on information security for a long time. Finally, it's worth pointing out that every other tech hub is also a security hub; you can draw similar graphs for Austin, Boston, and of course the Valley. Similarly, lots of other tech companies were funded in Atlanta. WheelGroup/Cisco, TippingPoint, RSA, and @Stake/Symantec also shed lots of little spinoff companies. At the end of the day, security products are just a uniquely easy way to suck large amounts of money out of large corporations using small dev teams and small direct sales teams. Some quick notes: * Zoompf isn't a security company. * WebTone isn't a securty company * VistaScape is physical/plant security, not IT * Starpound isn't a security company * Sonicity isn't a security company * Kaneva is Chris Klaus' video game company * Steelbox isn't a security company * Omnilink is a physical/plant security company, not IT * Virima isn't a security company And then: * ScannerX was a services company * RBTI was a VAR * Errata is a services company * Vigilar is a services company * Infoweapons is a VAR Finally: * NMotion never appears to have launched or gotten funded * I can't find Key Connections * Pramana doesn't appear to have gotten funding Some genuine Atlanta security startups w/ traction (he's not making up the fact that there is a security scene in Atlanta): * ISS (IBM) * SPI Dynamics (IBM) * CipherTrust (McAfee) * Damballa (still a going concern with serious funding) * Reflex (still a going concern [limping] with serious funding) * Oversight (and, actually an ISS relationship) I think he's got a point about Atlanta but a little bit less of a point about ISSX.

rjurney 17y ago
Its not possible to cover all aspects of a company in a couple of paragraphs, but if you look at the dates - they are entirely consistent with operating as a small company for 2-3 years: security scanner released in 1992, no funding until 1996. As to interest - maybe Hacker News is interested in the early days, but as that kind of thing is covered over and over it is of no interest to me. Thats not what I'm researching. Second: Most tech companies everywhere go nowhere. What is interesting is that in 1986 there were a lot of computer companies in Atlanta, but only (so far as I can tell) one security startup. ISS made the market hot, and a new cluster formed where there was not one before. As to the idea that work experience at a startup that sells for $1.3 billion has 'nothing to do with' it... I politely disagree. Whether you can draw a security hub in other places - you could NOT draw one in Atlanta before ISS. That is why it interests me - because it is new. As to its importance - I spoke with founders across the cluster, and yours is the first opinion that is so dismissive of ISS. As to your other comments, I'll just quote me, since you didn't read the article: "This is an incomplete founder map of security companies in Atlanta. Each link indicates that a founder worked at one company (as employee or founder), then went on to found another company. When 3+ executives came from another company, as in the case of Damballa, I’ve drawn a link and marked it as such. A few nodes are missing founder links, and that means I haven’t found any. Note that if you were to plot links between companies in terms of all employment, boards of directors, boards of advisors and investors, this web is so dense as to be incomprehensible. Also note: When founder paths cross in and out of the cluster, I’ve included the complete path, whether they remained in Atlanta or not. This means that a few of these companies, such as ZScaler, aren’t Atlanta companies, and that a few companies like Starpound, aren’t security companies." I'm actually particularly interested in offshoots that aren't security companies, as well as flows into this cluster, and so I've included them. And I haven't filtered small/failed startups, because they're still important in showing a vibrant ecosystem.