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Anything less than a full effort is stealing from those who have to fill the void.
New Wave, Wave had 200 people on payroll, but only 15 FTEs. That explains a lot...no wonder no one wanted change! :) Heard in a Wave hallway: "This Solms is hard core, he expects results...I'm out!"
New Wave,
I do not know what the results will show, but I think people will be very pleased with Bill's message. I guess we will all find out Thursday.
Change keeps coming...
http://www.wave.com/buzz/pr/wave-systems-appoints-silicon-valley-executives-lorraine-hariton-and-david-c%C3%B4t%C3%A9-board
Wave Systems Appoints Silicon Valley Executives Lorraine Hariton and David Côté to Board
Lee, MA -
March 10, 2014 -
Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: WAVX), a provider of enterprise security software, has named Lorraine Hariton and David Côté to its Board of Directors. Ms. Hariton and Mr. Côté each have over 25 years of technology industry experience, having led successful technology firms as CEO. Their appointments increase the size of Wave’s Board to eight members.
Great interview.
Bill sounds focused like a laser. There is a new sense of urgency around the products Wave has today...nice! This is exactly what I expect from him and I expect there will be more than words to back it up. Additionally, he is not losing sight to other things, eg mobile...more nice!
Bluefang, I guess it depends on the metric. :) Samsung is #1 in my book!
New Wave,
agreed.
This is an important announcement for the company. Wave now has an expanded agreement with the largest OEM in the world.
Wavey,
it used to come up as a product on Wave's main web site. See Wave's domain in 2013 from http://archive.org/web/.
ExPat,
It is fascinating to me that you believe you have more information than Bill to make decisions. Money losing operations are funded by businesses all the time if there is potential value that exceeds the cost. I believe Bill will evaluate the prospects and determine accordingly.
New Wave,
I think Solms clearly understood the challenges Wave was facing when he took the job. There was a lot that needed be changed to ready the company for the next level. I think Wave needed a new perspective to be able to deliver financial results that commensurate with the technology. Hopefully Solms will be the guy to pull if off.
NewWave, that does explain a lot. I received the below from an insider. Expat this is just for you and all in good fun!
Overheard at a secret location in a Wave conference room:
Employee: "Mr. Solms sir?"
Solms: "Yes, Private?"
Employee: "ExPatriate57 want you to shutter Scrambls."
Solms: "Private, who is that you say?"
Employee: "ExPatriate57. He is a famous anonymous naysayer on one of the message boards."
Solms: "I don't know him Private."
Employee: "Do you want me to summon the Spragues sir?"
Solms: “Are they still in Peter’s basement eating cheesy popcorn and coding?
Employee: “The Spragues are napping sir. I read them their favorite Calvin and Hobbes story and tucked them in an hour ago. Before I tucked them in, Steven said he thinks he solved his pipeline problem. He said Michael’s pipeline code had a bug in it. Michael apparently coded in 48 denominations. The numbers he gave Steven were denominated in Pesos.”
Solms: “Very interesting Private. When the Spragues awake, tell them to put out the secret weapon to deal with this Patriate fellow.”
Employee: “Snackman?”
Solms: “No thank you Private, I just ate lunch.”
Employee: “Awk?”
Solms: “Bless you Private.”
Employee: “4321?”
Solms: “Private, stop counting while I am thinking.”
Employee: “The secret weapon sir?”
Solms: “Private, how long have you worked here? Tell the Spragues to have that IR fellow announce four conferences and to salute the DOD for taking Trusted Computing seriously. I also want to be interviewed by that Stiennon fellow. For good measure, tell them to re-announce something…anything!”
Employee: “Sir, all on the same day? I have goose bumps sir.”
Solms: “This is war Private!”
ExPat,
"I trust" is based on an informed view. You presume it to be blind. If the CEO has determined there is possible value in Scrambls, so be it. I would be weary of a CEO who started hacking without thinking things through. Perhaps that would please you, but not me.
ExPat,
I trust the new CEO is making decisions based on what he views is best for the business. Have you heard anything that contradicts this view?
Thanks dreamer.
Wizard, I imagine there will be more detailed documents to support the framework.
Wizard,
please list the technologies highlighted...you will find none. It is high level framework.
Don't complain with the CEO exercises at .89. 89 and below have been available.
Thanks Wavedreamer. I looked for that, but forgot who made the statement.
I know if I was selling in that business, I would surely reference the recommendation. Both the NSA and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (which includes Eric Schmidt of Google and MS leadership) are saying TPMs should be used. This would seem to give you a strong selling advantage even before these mandates are in place.
Given Wave's lead position in managing TPMs, I have to believe Wave becomes a major beneficiary when government action is finally taken on TPMs. I know this occurred in November, but it is such a strong recommendation from the President's advisory group. There were only five recommendations, universal TPM adoption was one of them.
Hopefully Wave's sales people are already using this to their advantage.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/PCAST/pcast_cybersecurity_nov-2013.pdf
Cartoon,
I would love to see Wave do something like Good, Better, Best. Good is software based security and includes products like Wave's Safend Encryptor and Bitlocker, Better is a mixed environment of software and hardware and best is a hardware based and uses tools like ERAS.
Wave has the tools to manage current environments, mixed environments and ideal environments where TCG is at 100% penetration. Wave will be with you every step of the way as you migrate from good cyber security practices to best in class practices.
At present, Wave's product compete against each other and for the untrained, it may be a bit confusing.
Zen, no doubt.
That said, with LinkedIn and other social networks, true cold calls are only for people with a network of zero, people ill-equipped to do sales in this era, or people who are not willing to work hard.
There are many roads in to large companies. There are also many workarounds for companies that may be capital challenged. There is no doubt vendor management in large companies can be a beast. It is a new era of vendor management than ten years ago. 10 years ago vendor management was a theory. Today it is a lot of red tape.
It comes down to having the right leadership, the right personnel and a ton of hard work. The Wave suite of products on top of an industry pushed standard should be a fun sales call. These guys are not selling a commodity. They are selling a possible game changer. It should be easy to motivate the staff and if they cannot, they have the wrong staff.
I think Bill brings a perspective that Steven lacked. Most of Steven's career was limited to Wave. Through no fault of his own, his frame of reference to draw from was limited to those experiences. He should have filled his knowledge gap with a SME in areas he was limited.
Barge, I am just remembering the facts as I recall them. I was a window washer studying Icelandic at the time when I got the call for some muddy Windows in Lee. While SKS and the Intel team were on the other side of a one inch thick pane of glass, I had perfected lip reading from washing so many windows. I do recall SKS turning at one point, but I did catch "...for sure in 2014!" I am not sure of the context. For those who may take the preceding seriously...don't!
There is no doubt the Wave team has a lot of work to do. From my understanding, there is a lot interest in what Wave has to offer and Solms is confident in the future. The first order of business is to change from a culture of losing to a culture of winning. TPMs will be in everything. Someone is going to figure out how to make a ton of money from a deployed base of everything.
Barge,
I hate to intervene, but it was tea that was spilled, not coffee. Additionally, Steven did not speak French and said something altogether different in Icelandic, "engin samningur!"
Get your facts straight.
That should read, "not all firms are running tradeoff calculations on investing in security."
If I do not reread something 10 times before hitting submit, my posts are littered with grammatical issues.
Mymoney, I speak from the perspective of having worked at large firms and more recently, doing business with them. Not every company is the same. Not every company is doing the Pinto calculation. Reputation does matter. I can tell you factually that not all firms are not running tradeoff calculations on investing in security.
I think you have got it wrong on Wave's strategy as well. I believe Wave is going after bigger orders again. Not the other way around. You may want to check your facts.
Mymoney,
Most large institutions care about covering their arse. They care about regulators, lawyers and reputation risk. They do not want to be on the news like Target. That is their data protection motivation. Since cyber security is not their primary business, there are many different approaches to how various firms protect their assets and how much effort is focused in this area.
Additionally, there are many aspects to cyber security. It is not simple. Most companies including Wave, have not figured out how to be a one stop shop for all cyber security issues. Most, including Wave, do not make a complete set of tools. Cyber security requires antivirus. It requires policies on removable media. It requires data at rest protection. Data destruction protection. Data in motion protection. Network protection. Etc...
Wave currently offers protection related to certain aspects of the very large realm of cyber security. When TCG related technologies are used, the level of protection related to any of these specific areas is enhanced. Wave really has to focus on who they are messaging and how they are messaging.
A lot of large firms look at these various areas of cyber security and want to make sure they and their trading partners are protected. Once the box is checked, they feel pretty good.
Stories like Target help to bring awareness to the fact that check box security does not work. A cold sales call should be 10x easier after instances like these. The cost of a breach is extremely high. Instances like the Target breach can only serve to help Wave, the TCG and anyone offering more advanced solutions.
It is no doubt credibility matters. Credibility is lost when things are stretched. When things do not reconcile, people take notice. I personally like dealing in the truth good, bad or ugly.
There is no need to bash SS and in all my conversations people have been very respectful of SS. The truth is he did some things well and others not so well. If SS is altruistic, this is really not about him anyway. This is a public company with many investors. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Welcome to reality (not meant for anyone specifically!).
I think Solms truly believes in the company, its products and his ability to create a positive impact. You do not need to be an expert in everything. Good leaders know how to compensate for their weaknesses. Understanding your weaknesses is a fabulous strength!
Awk,
honeymoon? The guy has not been the CEO for one full quarter. It will take a little time to change the culture of Wave. I know you like SS, but I think your emotions are getting the best of you.
SS clearly was not without fault. He was removed by the same board that hired him over a decade ago. They obviously thought a change of direction was needed. I would not call a decade without profitability an overreaction.
Sure SS did some great things along the way, but this is a business and making money is the goal. If he was part of a group that forever changed computing but investors never profited, those investors would not view that as an accomplishment.
As I have stated, there are some elements of pure genius to get trusted computing to where it is, but to get it here and not profit from it would be near criminal. Sometimes the baton needs to be passed in order to get to the final destination. That does not incriminate SS as a fool, but perhaps his skills were best suited for one leg of the race. Time will tell, but based on what I am hearing, I think this was a necessary step, like it or not.
Brin and Page did not want to give control away of their company either. I am not comparing wavx to goog, but you get the point. Schmidt brought a set of experiences and disciplines they did not possess and helped bring the company to a place it likely would not have seen.
From my understanding, this may have been related to bringing in some new talent to the company. A necessary step when your last large sale was in the prior term of the president.
Telstar,
that's right.
On a different note, I think pipeline is actually going to mean something on a go forward basis. I also think Bill will be the type of guy to stand behind his words. Words will carry meaning again and that is very important for the company to reestablish credibility with its shareholders.
Solms,
FYI, after doing some digging, I expect Solms to do a good job for Wave. I think he will bring a new focus to Wave and will bring accountability to employees as well as the CEO office. I think this change was necessary and will put the company in a much better position. Obviously the proof will be in the pudding.
New Kingston Opal drive
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/kingston-opal-compliant-kc300-ssd,25392.html
It has support for applications such as WinMagic, SecureDoc, McAfee Endpoint Encryption, and Wave Embassy.
Barge,
the error in that thinking is that the CEO has no impact. If that is the case, there is certainly no need to pay someone more than minimum wage to do the job until the product can actually be sold. Please recall the GM deal was 3 (?) years ago.
Without being in the day to day, it is tough to get an understanding of how good/bad a CEO does in their role. However, you cannot argue with the fact that the one metric every investor cares about did not fare well under SS. Arguing that is arguing a fact.
That stated, nothing can be looked at in a vacuum. I have taken over many difficult roles in business. All of them were easy from the outside. Everything is easy to do from the outside. The best athletes play sports from their couches. Considering investors do not have every bit of information necessary to understand if they are getting enough out of the role, it is tough to overlook the one metric that truly matters.
It is surprising that anyone would be clamoring for puffery...what a crazy world.
SS and Solms
From my perspective, SS showed improvement over time. He was passionate about the space and seemed to play an instrumental role in getting the message out. He was hard working and seemed to put forth whatever he thought it took. He was also a good visionary.
That said, he demonstrated blind spots to shareholders and never seemed to truly see from a non-Wave payroll shareholder’s perspective. He was not disciplined on cash management and seemed to misunderstand the value of a strong balance sheet. He also did not seem to know his own weaknesses so that he could compensate for them. Overriding all good and all bad, he never over delivered on financials; 40 quarters of disappointing earnings relative to expectations. 40 quarters of opportunity to deliver would be considered extremely generous by any standard.
S. Sprague put forth an incredible effort to advance trusted computing. I cannot fault his effort or passion. Yet, the company and its shareholders have yet to benefit from all the effort. Investors rightfully get stuck on results.
I do not have much to say about Solms. He said a lot of the right things during the call even if he sounded a little uncomfortable saying them. I expect his comfort level in addressing shareholders to improve. Given what I heard, I expect he will try to speak more with results. I also suspect that he truly believes he can help to continue to improve the near term trajectory of the firm. Those who gave SS over 10 years and are jumping on Solms after 10 weeks are just acting silly.
SED Drives.
It looks like the shortage of supply is a thing of the past (list exclusively from Western Digital).
http://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/self-encrypting-drives
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Wave is changing up their TCG rep again:
Ken Mabe •Director, Promoter Board Member
•Wave Systems Corp.
https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/about_tcg/board_of_directors
Webinar,
I do not know the audience, but assume it is to sell product. That said, I would like the presenter to be more authoritative on the subject, more enthusiastic and better researched. It sounds like he just googled pricing on competing products a couple of minutes before speaking. Other than that, good job Girish.
Just my two cents
May be of interest:
http://www.wave.com/recent-webinar-wave-virtual-smart-card
Alea,
I like the truth. Problems arise when you skew the truth and forbid dealing with reality. Wave: "the market does not get it." Solution, keep doing the same thing and presume it's not us, it's them. Reality: "we are doing something wrong." Solution: do something different; identify what you are doing wrong and solve for it.
In a unique environment like this, there is exist great opportunities to grab quick market share. Trust is at a premium. If you know how to deal with market disruption, it can be your advantage. The other option is do nothing, get paid and have a nice built in excuse.