DataExpress – 2019 has been a terrific year!

As we look back on all that transpired here at DataExpress in 2019, the biggest news we are happy to report was the successful acquisition of our company by Data443. We have all read about M & A activities where stories have emerged of seemingly nothing going to plan. However, in our case, the transition went smoothly, even to the point where today we have a better development and support environment for our NonStop customers than they have previously been able to enjoy. Our NonStop systems travelled halfway across the country but are up and running and providing support for all DataExpress customers.

This wasn’t the only activity of 2019 as we rolled out a number of new features and capabilities for both our DataExpress NonStop (DXNS) and DataExpress Open Platform (DXOP) product lines. “In responding to a customer suggestion, we took an existing module that provided Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) – a communications-centric cryptographic privacy and authentication protocol – from within DXNS and stripped it out to become a stand-alone product,” said Billy Whittington. “Given that we now support this ‘GnuPG’ standalone and that it resides within the Guardian personality – available with the NonStop Kernel (NSK) – and that it can access the OSS personality to take advantage of the newer technologies and solutions that leverage this environment, DXNS users have even better security support in place.”

By way of example, Whittington then added that “any user can feed it a file under the Guardian side, it jumps the fence to the OSS, GnuPG encrypts it and then hands the file back for processing!” This new standalone feature is “currently in beta testing at a prospect’s site and it is going well.” Look for further updates on this product in the near future as, yet again, it demonstrates how maintaining a close working relationship with our customers creates opportunities for DataExpress to add functionality and value to our customers. “More often than not, our development priorities are set by our customers and even as we are now part of Data443, we expect that our responsiveness to new requirements will continue to be in evidence within the Nonstop community.”

When you look back at where we have come from, 2019 has been another great year for DataExpress with DXNS as we know we are entering the very competitive time of the year with a strong and stable DXNS present at our NonStop customer sites ready to take on the burden of the holiday transaction rates that we know always spirals and we remain comfortable in the knowledge that our DataExpress product will not miss a beat. Just as business everywhere will be relying on their favorite carrier, be that UPS, FedEx, Amazon etc., for a timely and safe delivery of their important packages, DataExpress is being relied upon to get files to where they are needed in just as timely and safe a manner as any other package, regardless of the additional load!

As for our DXOP product, DXOP V7 will become available in the New Year. This is our newest platform and as such, allows us to make radical dynamic changes going forward. “Within this product update, the former internals that dated back to much older technologies have been totally revamped and now capitalize on open source together with modern interface technologies that come with open source,” said Whittington.  “Perhaps the best example of this is how we have completely refreshed the communications protocols right across the board!” As a new platform for DXOP is leaving QA, we are looking forward to being better able to provide follow-up releases where our customers will see support for encrypted data at rest, multi-factor authentication, new customizable dashboard and, already in plan, mobile access from a management perspective.

2019 has been a year of change and of growth as we have become part of a public company that is focused on security in all its forms. Having found a home in this larger organization and because of the mission it has established for itself, we are seeing DataExpress moving from being a “highly functional utility” to taking up residence within the “security” framework that is central to all that is being pursued at Data443.  And with that, we wish you all a happy holiday season as we look forward to an exciting time in 2020!