Steven Sprague

http://www.wave.com

46 Comments

    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 22:07 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      Thank you everyone for your contributions.

      If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by Email
      Ssprague [at] wavesys.com

      Or contact Wave at 413-243-1600

      call us if we can help you deploy or use Trusted Computing technology

      Steven Sprague
      CEO
      Wave Systems Corp.
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 20:15 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      Thanks for the questions.

      1. US army the next step is to take ownership and administrative control of the TPM and put it into the hands of the US ARMY. We have worked with them to understand what would be needed to accomplish this for the whole network. Next step is to finalize the architecture and timeline questions so that they will be in a position to buy. Then the who will pay question will come up.

      When we need everyone to write a letter to their congressmen will let you know : )
      We are collecting revenue today but it is small and there are some mid size projects in the works as well
      DARTT is the unknown in the race.

      We have a solid relationship with HP we do joint customer calls and we talk regularly. We would like to convince them to adopt wave as their standard client software we are not there yet.

      It really is a simple problem that 2-3 years and 30 - 50 million dolllars can't solve. I would not so easily dismiss the work and brand that has been built. We have great partners and we work very hard to make them look good.

      We will need help but I think we have the bases covered today.


      Thanks for the support.

      steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 20:05 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      We have built the solution to be compatible with tpms but not to require them. We think the potential for this type of transaction is for everyone. It is about changing habits but the process is so easy that It should take off like online banking did. Signing the loan origination and all of the supporting stuff that has to be done to be in compliance builds a better transaction foundation for everyone. In addition, it provides secure online storage of the documents. In time we should all do our busywork paperwork this way. There is always a place for sitting at the table and signing your fist mortgage and everyone shaking hands but anyone with volume business will prefer an electronic, self organizing, and compliance auditing system. We hope this will generate significat transaction volumes for wave.

      In addition, everyone will ultimately need an identity in a TPM to sign with and to have secure access to these personal documents. The synergy here is fantastic.

      Steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 19:58 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      Thank you for your support. It has been a long time cooking but the progress is tangible.

      I know it is hard when one can only see the companies public progress.

      Steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 13:17 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      We haven't provided exact numbers but we shipped millions in 2006 in the range of 5 - 7 million

      we expect to ship closer to 15 - 20 million in 2007 but that depends on our OEM partners and our ability to continue to provide them with quality solutions.

      We think that the bulk of the features are very easy for a user to figure out but integrating it with your corporate network logon requires some support from IT. Once set up the day to day use is simple and some times invisible.

      Steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 11:13 AM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      the bid process is how they cull the list but there is no gurantee of an order for the bid put it in think of it as submitting your best price to be listed and then the gov't can buy off of the list.

      It was originally thought back last fal that a drive would not have to have any information about the PC on which it ran. ie the software is not customized to the bios. This turned out not to be true and customization is required to enable Standby mode on your laptop. This had the effect of a small amount of sand in the transmission. In the short term it created delay. In the medium term it gives wave a huge advantage because we are prepared to understand bios configurations and to support testing on multiple platforms from multiple vendors. We currently are supporting all of the major OEMs with tdm Most of tier 2 and most of tier 3. Keeps all the hands and feet busy. I think the other software vendors are not as well prepared to do this and may never do it.
      the first ASI and tarox machines support on and off and hibernate but not sleep.

      PS bitlocker has this same problem it is an issue created by microsoft and bitlocker does not easily support standby as well.

      Most of the software Full disk encryption solution guys get around this by hacking the windows kernel.

      As a funny note had a conversation with a top three accounting firm where they are running safeboot aks for a password when you turn it on or recover from hibernate but nothing if you just close the lid and then open it. As IT learns more about actually securing data at rest this will not be considered a viable solution. I have not research safeboot so just assume it is a configuration error by the accounting firm. Our software on ASI locks out standby if a drive is initialized so that there is no risk of the machine blue screening on recovery as the systems fail safe.

      The cool thing about building the tdm software is as problems are discovered the drives never release data without permission. Some times they have become permenantly locked due to bugs but never unlocked.

      I hope this clears up the question.

      We are shipping evaluation systems to enterprise customers today to let them touch and exercise our software broadly.

      steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 10:55 AM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      I think that until you have proven revenue or signed binding contracts that produce revenue a company should stay away from debt it put control into the hands of a few and then if there is a hickup we all lose. We are closer to this position but not there yet.

      steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 10:46 AM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      Trusted phones that support third party trust models will still take some time. we have strong IP in this area but it depends on how it is ultimately done.

      Trusted peripherals will show up as their need is better understood Trusted PIN entry is the obvious one for input of passwords that can't be stolen. this is true for trusted biometrics as well.

      steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 08:47 AM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      Today is the last day. I am please everyone has found this a usefull activity and Thanks for not abusing me on my dislexic typing and spelling. There is no spell checker on this forum.

      So trusted execution will hapen first in a small way on the virtualization portion of the new processors. TPMs play an important role in assuring the integrity of these systems prior to loading or exeuctin code. We envision a stronger trust assurance network that will facilitate the distribution of authorized, secured and measured code that can be executed on the PC. There is still a tone of work to do in this area but the foundations we have laid should facilitate our role in this future business. Ultimately this will enable multiple OS environments that operate independently of each other on the PC. an example would be my personal laptop and my business laptop on the same machine with no conflicts of control.

      First step is strong machine identity so we know which machine is being used
      Second step is isolation of data so that the hard disk can hold multiple secure encrypted partitions locked to each os
      Third step is network validation that the right applications are loaded.
      fourth step is to enable the secure loading and executing of trusted applications and OS images.

      we will get there but it will take time it is a driving force that is putting TPMs on all global machines used by all users

      steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 08:38 AM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      I think Consumer is a 2008 play and the goal is to enable the foundation services to drive consumer utilization of TPM. We need the enterprise business to drive the revenue that will fund the consumer development.

      Every laptop carrier is also a consumer. I only have one laptop for daily use and Yes I do actually use it for more than just business. I beleive this is true for the vast majority of users who travel.

      steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 06:49 AM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      These industry standards are very powerful but they take time. Once you can see them the path is obvious but the timeline of new hardware is real. USB, Multimedia in business PCs are great examples of where it took significant time for the whole eco system to "get it" But in the end they have been huge. TPMs are also scary to some folks because security is very invisible it's hard to understand and hard to see. Imagine all passwords are gone and your PC is handling authentication for you. we would love it but will we feel safe. Trusting new technologies takes time as well.

      Wavexpress can be very successfull without TPM but needs more marketing. We are working to build those partnerships to help it get there. Video on the web is a very hot space and Wavexpress is making great progress.

      steven
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    • ON: Wed Mar 28th 06:41 AM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      We have had insider buying over the years. it really is only the boar memebers. Jerry and i a constant buyers through the Eployee stock purchase program but for reasons that are to confusing there are no filings reguired when those transactions are mad because it is a company program. As I said previously on the thread have participated at the max allowed level since the program started.

      Steven
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    • ON: Tue Mar 27th 21:49 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      EDS actually yes there are continuing active dialog but on a different topic area their reorganization years ago changed the potential. Maximus less so we have no direct business today but let me say that all of these deals have built the foundation and experience that is Wave. There are very few companies that have the kind of depth that we bring to a new concept. Our experieince in trying to develop a hardware based services business has prepared us for the opportunity that presents today.

      The future of TPMs is as the foundation for a global services based network with policy driven access control. This will make it possible to log into your PC and have your PC manage all of the services and devices that you have access to. The race to capture Eyballs has yet tot really start. YouTube had a 100 million viewers but no subscribers. This means that they can only deliver new services by adding to the portal. ie a transaction like ebay buying skype. The concept of bringing a discounted service to an existing installed base through identity and security has yet to really happen. AAA travel does it every day so does comcast. The billion customer PC network is still virgin territory. Our plan?
      1. Get your brand on every PC or as many as possible
      2. Build the tools to manage the relationship with the customer or their platform and for the customer to manage thier keys or relationship with a service.
      3. Demonstrate viable transaction based models
      4. Facilitate the package and promotion of services to the end user.

      Every day we make progress. We are working to build the enterprise business to support the deployment of the TPM as a global subscriber managment model for the corporation and for the user.

      Papa ginos has been a fantastic customer but they are on of about a dozen in differnet industries. Chris at Papa ginos has been a fantastic advocate for TPM because he can see the value of a standards based security solution.

      Big companies are great partners and can be a real pain as well. Sales will drive our powerbase and strength the respect we get from everyone in the market. I won't say it is not frustrating but we will change the world and we are making a huge contribution to driving the security of the internet. This will benefit all of us as shareholders, parents and citizens.

      Security is a very powerful technology and the right plan has been a quite launch of this market so that it could be launched. it is hard but it has been the right thing to do now it is time to pull back the curtains and it is happening with Vista, seagate, DOD....

      Steven
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    • ON: Tue Mar 27th 21:26 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      Only if sales kick in strongly.

      We will grow the team as the strenght in sales justifies it. Our balance is okay today We know what to build next there are huge opportunities that are very clear but we have to maintain balance.

      The business with seagate is an example of an area we have been investing in for 3 years and it is only really clear today how strong the market could be for this technology.
      There are other technology components that are even stronger but the market is not ready yet to understand the role of the service we could offer.


      steven
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    • ON: Tue Mar 27th 21:22 PM
      Commented on:
      Interview: Steven Sprague, CEO of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX)
      Finding the leading IT departments.

      We had a meeting the other day with a large potential customer over 100K seats and they had a room full of really smart guys. They got it. they wanted tpms, they have a plan for how they want to use them. They found us as a key supplier.

      now we have to close a deal with them and work it into their it planning and budget. These companies will show the world the way.

      We educate the press, the analysts, the pundents, and the regulators. Every we day we make progress.

      Steven
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