WISeKey Completes Acquisition of 22% of Tarmin, Inc through a Multi-Million USD Transaction and Integrates its Secure Cloud Offering into WISeID.COM

WISeKey International Holding SA / WISeKey Completes Acquisition of 22% of Tarmin, Inc through a Multi-Million USD Transaction and Integrates its Secure Cloud Offering into WISeID.COM . Processed and transmitted by West Corporation. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

WISeKey Completes Acquisition of 22% of Tarmin, Inc through a Multi-Million USD Transaction and Integrates its Secure Cloud Offering into WISeID.COM

Geneva, Switzerland- April 3, 2019: WISeKey International Holding Ltd (SIX: WIHN), a Swiss based cyber security and IoT company, today announced the acquisition of a 22% interest, through a multi-million USD transaction, in Tarmin Inc. ("Tarmin"), a Boston, Massachusetts based leading pioneer of Data & Software Defined Infrastructure delivering a massively scalable, transparent and unified approach for consistent data management, storage, retention, security and search across cloud and traditional storage infrastructure. 


This strategic investment allows Wisekey to integrate Tarmin's GridBank Data Management Platform technology into the WISeID.COM addressing key challenges associated with storing, managing and gaining value from massive amounts of data for the long term. Data volumes are growing exponentially, increasing costs and driving greater regulatory risks, while creating opportunities to gain actionable insights from business-critical information.  

Data and Software Defined Networking (DSDN) market share is predicted to grow over USD 88 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. DSDN, an emerging network technology is transforming networking architecture.  DSDN is used by airlines to isolate the network control plane from the data plane and is directly programmable. DSDN modifies the individual network devices into the accessible computing devices enabling the underlying infrastructure to be abstracted for network services and applications, which allow the network to be treated as a virtual entity.

DSDN enables the network to be a competitive differentiator for enterprises and carriers, not just an inevitable cost center. It offers several benefits, such as high bandwidth, capabilities to cope with the dynamic nature of the advanced application and reduction in operational & management complexity that is augmenting its demand in the market.

The increasing adoption of the cloud services and IT convergence is one of the primary factors that is driving the growth of the market. Over the past five years, a rapid surge in the adoption of cloud services has been witnessed. It is driven by its capabilities to provide enterprise wide array of resources they can utilize to scale, orchestrate, and support their operations. 

Cloud computing untethers the underlying infrastructure and applications, offering a level of dynamism that did not exist in traditional infrastructure. Furthermore, as the demand of cloud computing increases, it will increase the pressure on the network to cope with the flexibility, scalability and programmability of this virtualized model. This results in ample use-cases for DSDN and will fuel the demand for DSDN market solutions.

Tarmin's integration with WISeKey's Trusted Vertical Cybersecurity Platform adds few critical elements such as:

1. Dynamic data management for exploding enterprise data stores utilizing a massively scalable converged grid approach.
2. Scalable backup target providing full text content search, distributed deduplication, self-service restore & cloud-ready migration.
3. Massively scalable, high performance, high availability, globally distributed platform for enterprise information archiving data.
4. Next generation data management and storage solutions to jointly develop the WISeBox solution. WISeBox is a Managed Cloud service that integrates with WISeKey Root of Trust (ROT), PKI and the Tarmin GridBank Data Management Platform.

WISeKey will utilize GridBank's search and e-discovery capabilities, audit and retention policies and encryption features combined with WISeID Signing Agent to provide audited data rooms and legal solutions. 

Additionally, WISeBox will be adding secure cloud services from Switzerland  in cooperation with Tarmin, using Swiss data centers and Swiss Alps Mountain bunkers to store the personal data generated by users and enterprises. WISeKey, is the first e-security company in the world to offer decentralized Trust Models and PKI architecture. In addition, WISeKey allows data ecosystems to be federated via a unique digital identity, enabling users to interact while maintaining control of their personal data. WISeBox users have the have the freedom to choose where their data resides and who is allowed to access it. By decoupling content from the application and digital identity itself, users will be able to use their data as currency and develop digital data dividends-based solutions as consumers have a right to know and control how their data is being used and be able to monetize their data. www.wiseid.com

Due to new personal cloud alternatives, gone are the days of huge centralized clouds and ID Meta systems with no respect for personal data. This trend which WISeKey is spearheading, is motivating users and enterprises to develop personal clouds. Personal clouds shift the gravity center to users, giving them the ability to retake control of their personal data and benefit from leveraging local data centers, increased security and trust models, and also through digital identification technologies provide trust without compromising neutrality and independence.

WISeBox is integrated into WISeID which offers a secure vault to protect personally identifiable information (PII). Protecting PII is important to avoid impersonation and identity theft.  All personal data saved using WISeID is controlled, encrypted, password protected and never communicated to third parties.

"This strategic investment allows Tarmin's Data & Software Defined Infrastructure solutions to integrate with WISeKey Cybersecurity Platform strengthening Tarmin's offering among WISeKey enterprise clients and bringing new source of revenue for both companies," said Carlos Moreira, Founder and CEO of WISeKey.

"We are excited about this new strategic investment from WISeKey and are confident that our combined customers will receive best-of-breed cybersecurity solutions with the full integration of the GridBank product suite," said Shahbaz Ali, President and CEO of Tarmin.

GridBank was developed to fulfill the unmet needs of data intensive organizations that experience challenges associated with accelerating data growth. GridBank's revolutionary data centric approach allows organizations to effortlessly meet the performance and scalability needs required to manage massive data growth, while significantly reducing corporate risk through a comprehensive information governance framework and deliver business value from metadata with accelerated search, e-Discovery and analytics integration.

GridBank integrates with WISeKey MPKI, utilizing TLS/SSL encryption. WISeKey attests to the authenticity of a web page and encrypts all data transfers across the internet. S/MIME certificates are used by individuals to sign, encrypt and authenticate e-mail, making e-mail communication secure and confidential. Users can trust that their digital communication, and sensitive content, is delivered to the intended parties safely and securely. 

The Managed WISeKey ROT serves as a common trust anchor, which is recognized by all operating systems and applications to ensure authenticity, confidentiality and integrity of online transactions. With the Cryptographic ROT embedded on a device, the IoT product manufacturers can use code signing certificates and a cloud-based signature-as-a-service to secure interactions among and between objects and people.

About Tarmin:
Tarmin Inc. is the leading pioneer of Data Defined Infrastructure solutions, which unlock the value of data as a strategic business enabler, delivering a massively scalable, transparent and unified approach for consistent data management, storage, retention, security and search across cloud and traditional storage infrastructure. Tarmin GridBank empowers organizations to store, control and understand the value of data as a competitive business asset, no matter its size, location or cost by uniting application, information and storage tiers into a single, integrated data centric management architecture. Visit www.tarmin.com for more information.



About WISeKey
WISeKey (SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey Microprocessors Secures the pervasive computing shaping today's Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.).  WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey's Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust ("RoT") provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.


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This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey.

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