With the weekend approaching, this is as good a time as any to go through a few private outfits that stood out. All the companies listed below probably will go public sometime this year, barring an acquisition, so think of this as a short preview of what might come down the IPO pike. Make your own judgements. Some entries have more information than others. A UK-based company specializing in Web security, based on hardware.
Web servers spend an awful lot of time and processing power on certificates.
Dedicated plug-in cards. Sounds like a 3dfx-type of hardware acceleration, but for digital certificates rather than 3D graphics. Can''t say I much care for peripheral businesses in general, but at least nCipher has a relatively unique approach, as opposed to being another dot-com or Web services company. Builds data centers that house multiple networks. Companies often find themselves forced through a single lousy hub on the Internet.