KoolSpan is a leading provider of secure enterprise communication solutions that enables businesses and organizations to connect securely and privately on mobile and other enterprise systems devices. Specifically designed for secure and private workspaces, KoolSpan solution integrates the existing corporate services with a complete communication suite (messaging, file sharing, calls and video conference), operating without any connectivity to the unsafe public web. KoolSpan turns any workspace into a “Dome”, protected from infiltrations and cyber attacks.
KoolSpan is a privately financed company that has been around for about 15 years and has an IP portfolio that includes 42 patents related to encrypted voice and data communications. Pulse 2.0 interviewed KoolSpan’s Chief Operating Officer Alessandro Ossoli and BizDev Lead and Strategic Advisor Randy Siegel to learn more about the company.
(Left: Alessandro Ossoli / Right: Randy Siegel)
Formation Of KoolSpan
“The short answer is that the founders understand the underlying data security vulnerabilities in the worldwide telephone ‘system.’ I speak to Signalling System No. 7 (SS7), but this is just one of many other aspects of the network that represent a possible threat vector. The founders of the company realized that there was a pressing need for end-to-end encrypted communications in today’s connected world, exaggerated by exploding hybrid work environments due to the global pandemic. Similarly, they recognized the absolute requirement for a private company that would not keep personal information on a “platform such as Facebook’s WhatsApp.” said Siegel.
Favorite Memory
What has been a favorite memory working for KoolSpan?
Ossoli replied:
— Realizing that our customers appreciated KoolSpan’s strategy to be fully independent, provide them with end-to-end protected communication solutions hosted in their environments, and not require any web connectivity to operate. KoolSpan is recognized as the most effective countermeasure against cyber attacks on their communications and data.
— Getting the official approval for being adopted by US DoD in 2019
Challenges Faced
What are some of the challenges faced in building the company? “Our main business with US government agencies and governments abroad is constantly subject to local/global social, political, and economic contingencies. Being ready at the right moment is one of the challenges we need to face to be successful. We keep this in mind as we build out the product making it as flexible as needed for the dynamics our customers demand across their global deployments,” Ossoli shared.
Core Products
What are KoolSpan’s core products and features? “KoolSpan’s core products are encrypted text, voice, and video communications, and conferencing. The company offers a desktop client as well as mobile versions of the software to run on Android and iOS devices,” Siegel answered. “The company has migrated from encryption solutions rooted in hardware and moved to software-based architectures. One of the many reasons for this was Time to Market and advances in cryptography (as well as cost advantages).”
And Ossoli pointed out that KoolSpan has recently introduced its exclusive deployment model Dome – which guarantees full operations in any customer’s secure environment. The Dome is an on-premise solution where the client has full control over its deployment rollout and subsequently user experience.
Most Significant Milestones
What have been some of KoolSpan’s most significant milestones? Ossoli cited the following:
— KoolSpan patents portfolio 2012
— KoolSpan TrustChip (HW solution) 2013
— Introduction KoolSpan TrustCall based on the device’s native keystore (SW solution) 2015
— KoolSpan TrustCall rebranded and preloaded on hardened phones for multiple markets in 2016
— KoolSpan approved for US DoD adoption 2019
— Introduction of KoolSpan Dome deployment model 2022
— TrustCall-X with audio and video conferencing feature 2023
Customer Success Story
When I asked Siegel about a company success story, he told me: “We have done work for myriad government customers outside the continental United States. A good example would be an Asian-based country’s military.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is KoolSpan pursuing? “The TAM is massive. In some ways, everyone who works for a government agency worldwide and everyone at a Fortune 500 company… the market scape for this product is massive,” Siegel pointed out.
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates KoolSpan from its competition? “Unlike others who are based on a larger platform (e.g., Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Zoom), KoolSpan’s software-based solutions are independent and owned by the customer in on-premise and hybrid-cloud environments, KoolSpan has strict data retention and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) policies that preclude us knowing too much about the actual customer and the customer’s business. In fact, one of our mottos is ‘your business is no one else’s business,’” Siegel explained. “KoolSpan’s voice technology has also traditionally provided higher fidelity communications over lower bandwidths than has been accomplished by our competition.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of KoolSpan’s future company goals? “KoolSpan wishes to remain independent and continue to provide privacy tools to allow people and organizations to efficiently and productively communicate around the world. We wish to continue domestic and international growth in the years to come,” Siegel concluded. “I think we would like to focus on our independent status and how PII is not stored by us. Rather, it is owned by the company. This is the genesis of the ‘dome’ concept. It’s your IP and PII in your environment. You, the customer, control the data and access in your data center protected in our secure dome of protection. To the malicious actor, it’s a Star Wars-like shield of impenetrable protection. For our clients’ end users, the Enterprise User Experience (EUX) is seamless. They don’t even realize they are under the dome and are working business as usual after installation.”
