DataPower dives into D.C.

Officials at DataPower, a developer of application-oriented network security hardware, have opened an office in Washington D.C. to further cultivate the company's federal customer base.

They have also ended a popular loaner program that they used to build that customer base. During the past several years, agencies borrowed equipment through the program, "with the bet being that in the long run, people would see the value of this technology and they would get funding," said Eugene Kuznetsov, the company’s chief technology officer. "At the time, it was certainly a gamble."

The program, formally called the Government Web Services Security Immersion Program, began in 2003.

The company's products have earned required certifications, Kuznetsov said. They enable officials to offer secure Web services.

The loaner program succeeded, Kuznetsov said, because once agency officials understood the value of the technology, many of them were able to get funding for projects and return to make purchases.

Three people are staffing the D.C. office, Kuznetsov said. Science Applications International Corp. is a major partner in the federal sector, and, he said, DataPower works in tandem with many integrators on various projects.

DataPower’s headquarters is in Cambridge, Mass.