TULSA WORLD Business MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1998 Security Measures SPOTLIGHT: Global Interface Solutions Inc, Webtek; TulsaTix; ADDRESSES: 10816 E. Newton St. Tulsa SERVICE: Software designer specializing in security, website design and maintence, automated special events ticket sales. MANAGEMENT: R. Brent Johnson, Owner EMPLOYEES: combined, 22 ESTABLISHED in Tulsa 1990 Robert James, Global Interface Solutions software deevelopment director, works at his terminal. Tulsa World photo by Kelly Kerr Becky Tiernan World Staff Writer Global Interface Solutions offers protection In this day and age, few company managers would think twice before installing a security system to guard the company's facilities, its products and personnel. The security guard, electronic eye and locked entrance are as common today as the coffee pot in the lunch room. At the same time, many of the same corporate chiefs dismiss suggestions to place security processes on their computer systems, claiming the expenditure is unnecessary. Yet, theft of data can cripple or even destroy a company -- or its personnel. "If you think back to the days of Oliver North, he got caught because his e-mail wasn't deleted," said R. Brent Johnson. "Now, we have Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and they found his e-mail on her Pentagon computer. Then we have Bill Gates -- of all people -- who gets caught with damaging e-mail." The importance of electronic security has propelled Johnson, owner of a Tulsa software company, into the international realm of computer data security and accelerated his Global Interface Solutions' growth to an estimated 25 percent each year. Global Interface Solutions Inc. moved to Tulsa from California eight years ago at the request of one of its largest clients, American Airlines. Since then, it has perfected its patented SuperVision software -- a program that links numerous system types and software programs, said David Embry, customer relations director. "You've got mainframes, you've got Unix boxes, you've got AS400s, and then you have all different types of software. It's good to have one kind of software that allows you to see all of those system consoles at the same time. Through SuperVision, we provide companies the ability to consolidate all of those consoles into one personal computer." This software attracted high profile clients -- particularly in the airline industry. Those companies, in turn, have served to guide GIS' plan for the future, Johnson said. "We first wrote our Secure package five years ago to handle the airline business," Johnson said. "We have continued working on it and defining it, and now it's the basis for all of our programs -- for the airlines, the large companies. Southwestern Bell is using it. So is EDS in Plano, (Texas), GTE, Amoco, Anheuser-Busch and St. John Medical Center. "The company currently is working with the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to provide security software for electronic data. "Security has been lacking in a lot of people's agendas, but it is becoming more important now," Johnson said. Today, anyone can log onto the Internet and find step-by-step instructions on how to get into anybody's e-mail and even change it, he continued. "So we've developed SecureEmail, which is encrypted and there are no copies of it left around. It's transferred to the person who's supposed to get the e-mail. They can be assured it has not been read in the meantime. And that it's from the person it says it's from." Johnson has received two patents in the security software area and has three more patent applications pending. GIS' four major products, several ancillary products and some new products under development are designed within the security arena. "E-mail needs to be encrypted, needs to be secure. And after it's been used, it needs to be gotten rid of securely," Johnson said. "That's what we're doing." GIS is currently working with some government agencies and large American corporations to develop SecureEmail for their use. "Right now, we're starting on a project that will involve a very large health care provider with some 1,400 computers. We'll provide the secure control of those computers and transfer of data within," Johnson said. The health care industry has stepped up security, he said. "But also Southwestern Bell is very interested in us because we provide them secure remote access to their large computers. Same with GTE and Amoco. "As a result of increased corporate awareness, I think we'll see growth in excess of 25 percent per year," Johnson said. "Continued growth of 25 percent per year is certainly within the realm of what we're doing in the electronic security industry." Return to the News Coverage