Company News — AmikaNow!

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Entrust buys up AmikaNow!

Venerable Ottawa startup AmikaNow! has accepted a buyout offer from Dallas-based Internet security company Entrust Inc. believed to be worth more than $1 million.

AmikaNow! is a six-year-old startup. The company touts its e-mail screening application as better than anything else on the market from top computer services firms such as IBM Corp. since it spots spam using a far more sophisticated system than simple word identification and dictionary analysis.

Company founder Sue Abu-Hakima describes e-mail as the "double-edged" sword that drastically increases the efficiency of an office, but at the same time opens the door to spam and viruses.

The company has endured the ups and downs of the tech market over the past six years and was closing in on revenues of $1 million. But Abu-Hakima acknowledged that teaming with a larger and more established player such as Entrust will create a firm with much more market traction as well as provide some return for AmikaNow!'s investors.

For Entrust, with has about 375 local staff, the deal will allow it to broaden its portfolio of Internet security services.

Entrust CEO Bill Conner said the company will now be able to offer policy management, content filtering, anti-spam, anti-virus and encryption.

The deal is expected to close in this calendar year. Entrust plans to integrate and brand AmikaNow!'s technology within its own products and have these new products on the market by the end of 2004.

Some of AmikaNow!'s staff will join Entrust's marketing and products group under senior vice-president Kevin Simzer. Abu-Hakima is also expected to join Entrust to help advise on product integration and strategy.

Abu-Hakima founded AmikaNow! in 1998 to commercialize technology developed in the artificial intelligence labs of the National Research Council.

Despite having raised about $5 million in early stage financing and another $2 million in government money, the company never succeeded in attracting the interest of big venture capitalists.

During the height of the tech boom, the company grew to 40 staff. The subsequent bust led it to cut jobs and it now has about 15 staff.

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