Aladdin Knowledge Systems
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Security Software & Services |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Founder(s) | Jacob (Yanki) Margalit and Tzvi Popowski |
| Headquarters | Belcamp, MD, USA |
| Products | eToken, eSafe, Hardlock, HASP |
| Operating income |  $ 13.911 million (2007) |
| Net income | $ 14.888 million (2007) |
| Employees | 464[1] |
| Website | www.safenet-inc.com |
Aladdin Knowledge Systems (formerly NASDAQ: ALDN and TASE: ALDN) was a company that produced software for digital rights management and Internet security. The company was acquired by SafeNet Inc, in 2009. Its corporate headquarters are located in Belcamp. MD.
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[edit] History
Aladdin Knowledge Systems was founded in 1985 by Jacob (Yanki) Margalit, when he was 23 years old; he was soon joined by brother Dany Margalit, who took the responsibility for product development at the age of 18, while at the same time completing a Mathematics and Computer Science degree in Tel Aviv University. In its early years the company developed two product lines, an artificial intelligence package (which was dropped early on) and a hardware product to prevent unauthorized software copying, similar to digital rights management. Yanki raised just $10,000 as an initial capital for the company.[2]
The digital rights management product became a success and by 1993 generated sales of $4,000,000. The same year that company had an initial public offering on NASDAQ raising $7,900,000.[3] In 2004 the company's shares were also listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.[4] By 2007 the company's annual revenues reached over $105 million.
In mid-2008, Vector Capital was attempting to purchase Aladdin. Vector initially offered $14.50 per share, but Aladdin's founder Margalit refused the offer arguing that the company was worth more. Aladdin's shareholders agreed on the merger in February 2009 at $11.50 per share, in cash. In March 2009, Vector Capital acquired Aladdin and officially merged it with SafeNet.[5]
[edit] Corporate timeline[1]
- 1985 - Aladdin Knowledge Systems was established
- 1993 - Aladdin held an Initial Public Offering
- 1995 - Aladdin acquired the software protection business of EliaShim
- 1996 - Aladdin acquired the German company FAST
- 1998 - Aladdin patented USB smart card based authentication tokens
- 1999 - Aladdin acquired the eSafe content security business of EliaShim
- 2000 - Aladdin acquired 10% of Comsec
- 2001 - Aladdin acquired the ESD assets of Preview Systems
- 2005 - Aladdin completed second offering - 2,000,000 shares with net proceeds of $39m
- 2009 - Aladdin was acquired by Vector Capital and merged with Vector's SafeNet.
[edit] Products
[edit] DRM
Aladdin's HASP product line is a digital rights management (DRM) suite of protection and licensing software with 40% global market share, used by over 30,000 software publishers. It is used across many platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac).[6]
HASP, which stands for Hardware Against Software Piracy, was the company's first product and evolved into a complete digital rights management suite, that includes a software only option and a back office management application, in recent years also software as a service capability.
[edit] Internet security
In the late 1990s the company started diversifying and began offering Internet security and Network security products, offering two product lines:
[edit] Digital identity management
eToken, portable device for two-factor authentication, password and digital identity management, mainly deployed as a USB token.
[edit] Network Security
eSafe a line of integrated content security products, protecting networks against malicious, inappropriate and non-productive Internet-borne content.
[edit] Vbox
Used by Adobe and Macromedia in their 30-days product trials.
[edit] External links
- SafeNet Inc. Data Protection & Software Licensing website
- Content Security - eSafe
- eToken PASS - Aladdin Product
- Aladdin Knowledge Systems website
- Aladdin Prize granted by the Haifa Center of Law & Technology
[edit] See also
- Digital rights management
- Product activation
- License manager
- List of license managers
- Floating licensing
- Silicon Wadi
[edit] References
- ^ a b Company Profile for Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd (ALDN), http://www.zenobank.com/index.php?symbol=ALDN&page=quotesearch, retrieved 2008-10-20
- ^ Shohet, Dan, "Aladdin's Yanki Margalit: It's not personal", Globes 15 - 09 -2008, http://www.ivc-online.com/ivcWeeklyItem.asp?articleID=7672, retrieved 2009-11-16
- ^ "Aladdin completes flotation. (Aladdin Knowledge Systems finishes initial public offering on NASDAQ)", Israel Business Today Article date: October 29, 1993, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14668135.html
- ^ "Aladdin Knowledge Systems to Dual-List on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.", PR Newswire Article date: July 22, 2004, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-132339650.html
- ^ Shuster, Shmuel (March 2009), Vector completes Aladdin takeover, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073750.html.
- ^ Miller, Zack (2008), "March Stock of the Month: Aladdin Knowledge Systems (ALDN)", Israel Opportunity Investor, http://israelnewsletter.com/2008/03/12/march-stock-of-the-month-aladdin-knowledge-systems-aldn/
