LIME to enter business of 'physical' security - Pitches plan at 'cloud' forum

Marcella Scarlett, Business Reporter

LIME, a regional provider of telecoms services, says that it plans to leverage its technologies and partner with security companies to help regional firms monitor and protect their physical infrastructure.

According to Ian Galt, LIME's managing director for customer solutions, the new business line has been rolled out in Trinidad and Tobago, where Galt said that state-owned telecoms company in which LIME is a 49 per cent stakeholder is, after 15 months, the leader at that top-end of the security market.

But it was not clear when the service will be rolled out in other markets and Jamaica, where LIME has bled red ink profusely in recent years — it lost J$6 billion in 2010 and carries accumulated deficits of J$13 billion on its balance sheet.

In Jamaica last week where he pitched cloud-computing solutions to the market, Galt told Sunday Business that the physical security-monitoring service was definitely in the pipeline.

innovative products

"We are looking to bring very innovative niche products to the market that, quite frankly, our competitors may be talking about but are not in a position [to deliver]," Galt said in reference to the proposed service.

"It is not pie in the sky, it is not a wish list. We are doing it today (in Trinidad)."

Explaining the rationale for the new business line, he highlighted the increasing need for firms to be conscious of the security of their operations — not just data, but also "their critical infrastructure".

"Whether it is CCTV cameras on the road, cameras in banks, etc, that is an expensive proposition," he said.

But installing these systems it is not the end of the spending for the company, he explained. They have to manage it and have the capacity to respond to threats.

Galt likened this to a company "almost having a separate business geared up in order to run its core business".

LIME will put in critical infrastructure and offer a broad security service to clients.

"We will partner with a company like, say, Guardsman, or G4S, since we are not in the business of men in vans with guns," said Galt.

Such alliances, said the telecoms executive, would then allow LIME "to be able to say to companies that we will not only help you with firewall security, but your physical security as well".

In the meantime, in the area of its core competence, LIME has partnered with four North American-based companies to provide cloud-computing services in the area of videoconferencing, hosted email, network management and monitoring, and remote data storage.

A deal with US-based company Terremark, a global provider of IT infrastructure services, will provide LIME with the platform that will be the core of the cloud-services products; network management and monitoring will be offered through Check-Point Software Technologies; hosted email services through Rackspace, of which Galt said "we went live with our first customer two weeks ago"; while videoconferencing services will be delivered in partnership with BCS Global.

"BCS is like a Skype working properly," said Michelle Atherton, vice-president of BCS Global.

marcella.scarlett@gleanerjm.com