Managed Hosting Company Layered Tech is Focused on Security and Compliance

To see what new developments were underway at Layered Technologies, TMC (News - Alert) CEO Rich Tehrani met with Brad Hokamp, the company’s new president, at the Cloud Expo East 2011 in New York City. Since joining the company in March, Hokamp has shifted the business strategy for Layered Tech.

Thanking Tehrani for meeting him at the Cloud Expo, Hokamp told Tehrani, “Think of us as a managed hosting company focused on compliance hosting.”  He added, “We are doing a lot of things and also did some acquisitions.”

Furthermore, he continued, Layered Tech is compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard 2.0 (PCI (News - Alert) DSS). And provides PCI compliant hosting and managed services and fully supports e-commerce eco-system.

Continuing the discussion, Hokamp said that #1 inhibitor for enterprises adopting cloud services is security and compliance. “We are laser beam focused on security and compliance,” emphasized Hokamp. He explained to Tehrani that cost was not in their model when competing with big players. The focus was on adding value to the solution, noted the president.

Meanwhile, the company is eyeing the federal market for expansion and plans to spread out into that space over next 6-9 months. So Tehrani asked Hokamp if he foresees the government doing more outsourcing to the cloud. Acknowledging the question, he quickly replied that President Obama has hired a new CIO for all government agencies. The President has mandated that the agencies have to move to the cloud and that there is a time table for certain applications, according to Hokamp. “That is right in our sweet spot,” asserted Hokamp.

Next, Tehrani touched upon the subject of cyberwar. And Hokamp replied that the government needs another line of defense from hackers to protect data.

Tehrani’s last question was, “Does someone have to audit your facility?”

“Great question. Absolutely. We are very familiar with that,” replied Hokamp. Explaining the process, he said that on any given week, multiple auditors, called qualified security assessors or QSAs, come on behalf of customers. And the company provides all the records, logins and other relevant data, so that the QSAa can audit and come up with a report on compliance for the client.

He said that lot of cloud providers talk about compliance. But, in practice, they are not transparent with auditors. And, therefore, will not pass the audit. “We provide the audit service and have a great track record,” noted Hokamp.

See below for the full interview.