India beckons

ICE PEOPLE: Sascha Beyer

, Pointsec's managing director (Middle east & India) likes both Mumbai and Delhi. "Both the cities have their own charm," says the executive who may be required to shift to India from his current base in Dubai.

Beyer's company deals in end point security solutions, that is, it protects the information stored on mobile devices such as laptops, PDAs, smart phones as well as on fixed computing systems.

And within one year of its entry into India (through partner Trident Infotech) Pointsec is feeling the need to set up its own offices in the country.

"We are already working with companies such as Wipro, ICT Infotech, Flex and others," says Beyer, who likes to describe himself as a "German living in Dubai and working for a Swedish company."

He's upbeat about the India business as "the banking sector here is big, the Indian BPO is also under the spotlight and there are many consultancy companies which need to protect confidential data," he says.

Data on Beyer's own smart phone is encrypted through a picture pin. "Even if it's stolen, it cannot be accessed," says Beyer who has been in the IT space for the last 13 years. But securing information is a passion for this MBA from Zurich who's also an MSc in Internet Security.

"With increased staff mobility and more portable data moving around within organisations, securing data has become a critical business concern," he believes.

Pointsec boasts of a large client base in the US including some federal authorities. The US military also uses Pointsec solutions. "It has secured the PDA's of its combat soldiers" informs Beyer.

Whether the soft-spoken German will finally leave Dubai, where he lives with his wife and three children, for India is still not clear. "I've left it to my wife," says the homebird who loves pottering about the house playing with his children and cooking Indian dishes.