V.i. Laboratories, Inc. (?V.i. Labs?), a leading provider of software protection and piracy business intelligence solutions, today announced a successful year of growth and expansion in 2008. V.i Labs? CodeArmor? platform has achieved success by fulfilling a pressing need in the market for protecting ISVs? applications from software piracy, tampering and code theft. V.i Labs? highlights from 2008 include technology innovation, the addition of key personnel and strategic partnerships designed to aid customers in the fight to recover software revenues.

?As a result of the current financial crisis impacting business and global markets, we have experienced increased demand for our anti-piracy solutions as a revenue generation source for software vendors experiencing downward trends in their license revenue,? said Joseph Noonan, president and CEO of V.i. Labs. ?Entering 2009, we now have a complete anti-piracy platform and our new CodeArmor Intelligence product is being adopted by some of the largest ISVs that recognize the new opportunity to acquire customers from unlicensed installs of their products.?

V.i. Labs continued its product and technology innovation of CodeArmor in 2008:

* A major milestone for the company in 2008 was the August introduction of CodeArmor Intelligence. CodeArmor Intelligence is the first turn-key piracy detection and reporting system that integrates with vendors? applications and provides a direct means to recover lost revenue. The solution offers a dynamic method to automatically detect and audit for piracy, quantify piracy adoption and create leads for sales, compliance or legal teams.
* V.i. Labs used the RSA Conference 2008 to demonstrate how security software vendors and enterprises need to protect their applications against tampering and reverse engineering. By hardening their applications that protect sensitive customer information, organizations can further comply with data security standards such as PCI and Sarbanes-Oxley.
* In June, V.i. Labs announced a patent for the industry?s first ever process to simplify and automate the protection of software applications without code modification.
* The company introduced a free and private piracy analysis at SoftSummit 2008. The new program provides insight into the scope or specifics of an ISV?s piracy problem. This includes crack release activity, which specific software applications have been cracked and released, the number of piracy groups involved, and past and present activity to understand piracy trends.

?Our ISV customers have validated that a piracy detection and lead generation approach provides a better means to justify their anti-piracy strategies and to go after the source of the piracy problem: the use of unlicensed software by businesses,? said Victor DeMarines, vice president of Products for V.i. Labs. ?By adding Intelligence capabilities to the CodeArmor platform, we enable ISVs not only to quantify their specific piracy risk, but to target the actual users of pirated software to convert them into paying customers.?

Highlights from 2008 also included significant customer growth:

Driven by the growing need for enterprises to protect their intellectual property, V.i. Labs received significant new customer orders demanding its technology and solutions within key markets, and now protects more than $1.5 billion in software assets. The Company garnered a number of new customers and gained additional momentum in these markets, including:

* A large ISV battling continued losses of revenue due to piracy is using CodeArmor Intelligence to gain insight and actionable data from the businesses that are using unlicensed versions of its software.
* A rapidly-growing mining technology services company proactively protects its licensing and software intellectual property against reverse engineering in high-risk countries.
* A billion dollar provider of computerized gaming equipment, network systems, licensing and services that develops server-based games and operations software using .NET technologies.
* A mechanical engineering software vendor with a history of piracy problems turned to CodeArmor Intelligence to develop sales leads and understand adoption rates in emerging markets.

Corporate milestones in 2008 included:

* Additional $4 million in Series B funding, further demonstrating the significant potential and growing importance of the software protection market. The new infusion of capital allowed the company to continue the aggressive hiring of new talent in the areas of sales, marketing, engineering and finance, as well as delivering technology enhancements to the CodeArmor platform.
* Multiple webinars featuring high profile executives from leading companies such as Gartner, Forrester, IDC, Internet Crimes Group and the SIIA to educate the market on the growing threats and preventative measures needed to combat software piracy.
* Periodic primary research alerts on statistics and threats from piracy groups delivered through V.i Labs? Code Confidential blog.

Significant new Partnerships reinforce V.i.Labs' position as a preeminent player in the industry:

V.i. Labs also secured key alliances and partnerships to extend its solutions for preventing software piracy, code theft and software tampering:

* Announced a technical integration with BMC Software, Inc. (BMC) that enables customers to accelerate root cause analysis of hardened applications.
* Announced an agreement with Riverside Research Institute, Inc. (RRI) for regular, independent testing of CodeArmor support for customer red team analysis and identification of new protection approaches based on its experience in analyzing new malware protection techniques.

About V.i. Laboratories (V.i. Labs)

V.i. Labs is the first company to offer software that combines piracy business intelligence, anti-tampering and reverse engineering technology to recover sales revenue, prevent the theft of software intellectual property and avert reputation damage. V.i. Labs? patented CodeArmor? platform allows software vendors, embedded system providers, enterprise organizations and government agencies to harden their applications against theft, gain business intelligence into emerging markets, measure unlicensed use of their software, uncover new revenue streams and increase sales. V.i. Labs is privately held and is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more information, please visit www.vilabs.com.

?2009 V.i. Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. V.i. Labs, the V.i. Labs logo, and CodeArmor are trademarks or registered trademarks of V.i. Laboratories, Inc. All other product and brand names herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Source:in.sys-con.com
DJ Norix Reviewed by DJ Norix on . V.i. Labs Provides Complete Anti-Piracy Offerings in 2008 Source:in.sys-con.com Rating: 5