Futurum Research Senior Analyst and VP of Sales Steven Dickens talks with Iconium Software’s Founder and CEO Rick Jones and President Mike Zinda during the SHARE Conference in Dallas. Their conversation focuses on the company’s launch into the mainframe space and how their unique, patent-pending technology meets the need they recognized in the security market.
To learn more about Iconium Software visit their website.
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Transcript:
Steven Dickens: Hello and welcome. My name’s Steven Dickens and you’re joining us here for Futurum, live from the show floor. I’m joined by Iconium Software, Rick Jones and Mike Zinda. Welcome to the show.
Rick Jones: Thank you, Steven.
Mike Zinda: Thanks Steven.
Steven Dickens: It’s great to be back at in person events.
Rick Jones: Absolutely.
Mike Zinda: Yes.
Steven Dickens: The buzz on the floor down there, it’s great to be back. We’ve had, what is it? Two and a half year hiatus. We’ve not been able to come. It’s great to see you guys in person.
Rick Jones: Thank you very much, Steven.
Mike Zinda: Thanks.
Steven Dickens: So tell us, tell the listeners a little bit about Iconium Software. You know you guys are still relatively new to the industry. Tell us a little bit around Iconium Software and get us orientated.
Rick Jones: Okay. You know, I started the company in 2017. And we’ve basically started out just developing product. Product in the security market and we saw a need and we’ve just recently come out and announced the product and engaging with customers. So, it’s been an exciting ride.
Steven Dickens: Yeah. And we’ve got exposed to you guys and started working together. Tell us a [crosstalk] little more on Mike.
Mike Zinda: Absolutely. I mean, this is a very unique patent pending technology that helps us provide geolocation of where people are accessing your mainframe data from. And it’s very, that’s the crown jewels of every business is that mainframe data. So, who’s accessing, when are they accessing it? From what location? Did they spoof your VPN? That’s what this technology does.
Steven Dickens: And as we’ve looked at it at Futurum Research, couldn’t be a better time to be bringing that type of functionality to the market, with everything that’s going on in the geopolitical landscape, hacking going on, front page news.
Mike Zinda: Right
Steven Dickens: Was that in, Rick, as you brought the company to the market, was that kind of in your thinking?
Rick Jones: Yes, it was. I mean, you know,, we saw the opportunity based on customer demand and you know it made sense to do it. The window of opportunity is here. We had the technology and the people, and so, we went ahead and invested the money and went right at it.
Steven Dickens: And what’s been that reaction? What’s been the customer reaction? You’ve come out of stealth mode. The product’s now in the market, what’s been the reaction. Maybe Mike give us a [inaudible]
Mike Zinda: Yeah, the customers are very, very impressed because when we speak to the customers, they say, “Hey, I don’t know what my privileged users are accessing.” So, that systems program or somebody that’s been there for 30 years, they may be accessing that data at odd hours. They also may be accessing from the local Starbucks and they want to know when they’re not working from home. I mean, we’re in that work home mode still, right? Not a lot of companies back in the corporate office here.
Steven Dickens: And I think we are right at the point where we’d gone remote. We’re now going back into the office, a lot of teams that hybrid work is coming to the fall. I mean, are you seeing that in your reactions that you’re getting from customers?
Mike Zinda: Absolutely. The customers are saying I can now bring my distributed models and my mainframe all to one in their socks, for example, right. They also have new compliances that are coming out and the customers are saying, listen, you know, we had GDP, we had all these things that we had to do. And now we’re seeing more restrictions coming out with some of the geopolitical threats.
Steven Dickens: So, we’re at share, great to get everybody back in person. What are you guys bringing to share, is there any product announcements? What’s the big themes for Iconium that doesn’t show?
Rick Jones: Well, we were, we submitted a paper for on security and, you know, share was kind enough to invite us down and we’ll make a presentation tomorrow. And we brought in a expert in security, that works for us now and he will give the speech.
Steven Dickens: So, is that really your coming out party to this?
Rick Jones: Yeah.
Mike Zinda: Yeah, It’s kind of the coming out party. We’re going to prom.
Steven Dickens: Yeah.
Mike Zinda: Right.
Steven Dickens: Basically get the message out. We had the pleasure of working together on a research report. [crosstalk] I think we published this last Friday.
Mike Zinda: Absolutely.
Steven Dickens: So, I think that would, we’ll put that in the show notes and the audience can get access to that. What would be, as we start to wrap up here, what would you want to leave this mainframe community with as a sort of core thought. Core message for Iconium as you look to sort of come to market,
Rick Jones: Send us money.
Steven Dickens: Fantastic. That’s fantastic. We’ve got to leave that in the edit people. Don’t go taking that out, Dana. But no, seriously, what’s that sort of view of what, if you can leave an impression around Iconium, what would it be?
Mike Zinda: I think that you need companies that are still innovating on the platform, especially on the mainframe and Iconium is investing heavily in continued innovation. Customers need to look at their mainframe security, their privileged users, the CSO shouldn’t sleep at night. The data protection officers need to be concerned. Who’s accessing the data. Could be partners, right? It could be your outsourcer, if you’re outsourced. So, we have to continue to drive innovation and help our customers protect their data.
Steven Dickens: I think that’s the key takeaway here as we start to wrap up, it’s that geospatial data and it’s the time [crosstalk] that people are logging in. These are privileged users. So, you know who they are. They’ve got the right rack F top secret ACF2 credentials, but you need to overlay that with some crucial data.
Mike Zinda: Absolutely.
Steven Dickens: So, thank you very much for joining us. You’ve been listening to Futurum from the show floor. We’ll see you next time. Thank you very much.
Author Information
Regarded as a luminary at the intersection of technology and business transformation, Steven Dickens is the Vice President and Practice Leader for Hybrid Cloud, Infrastructure, and Operations at The Futurum Group. With a distinguished track record as a Forbes contributor and a ranking among the Top 10 Analysts by ARInsights, Steven's unique vantage point enables him to chart the nexus between emergent technologies and disruptive innovation, offering unparalleled insights for global enterprises.
Steven's expertise spans a broad spectrum of technologies that drive modern enterprises. Notable among these are open source, hybrid cloud, mission-critical infrastructure, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and FinTech innovation. His work is foundational in aligning the strategic imperatives of C-suite executives with the practical needs of end users and technology practitioners, serving as a catalyst for optimizing the return on technology investments.
Over the years, Steven has been an integral part of industry behemoths including Broadcom, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and IBM. His exceptional ability to pioneer multi-hundred-million-dollar products and to lead global sales teams with revenues in the same echelon has consistently demonstrated his capability for high-impact leadership.
Steven serves as a thought leader in various technology consortiums. He was a founding board member and former Chairperson of the Open Mainframe Project, under the aegis of the Linux Foundation. His role as a Board Advisor continues to shape the advocacy for open source implementations of mainframe technologies.
