Keeping data secure is key to business

What: Datacastle, Seattle

Who: Lori Salow Marshall, 47, vice president of marketing and business development

Mission: Supply data backup and security to small- and medium-sized companies.

Crypt kickers: A lost or stolen laptop holding confidential data goes beyond being bad for business. New statutes hold companies responsible for such losses, with liabilities assessed if the data is not securely encrypted. Datacastle protects against malicious acts, so a stolen machine won't give up the data without a key. The system also triangulates the location of any stolen machine connected to the Internet.

Digging a moat: Data are assigned unique "DNA," so it can be traced and then wiped clean when a stolen notebook is connected. Conversely, selected files can be wiped out if the computer is not connected for a prescribed time period.

Employees: 15 full time; 10 contractors

Financials: The venture-financed company makes money through service fees. Marshall hopes the company will turn profitable by the first quarter of 2010.

Silver lining: While the economy slides, the percentage of IT budgets devoted to backup and security has held fast or increased. This is combined with a modular-service system, where the customer's upfront costs reflect the size of the company. As the company grows it pays more on an incremental scale. Marshall: "Our service does not require a large initial investment."

Castles in clouds: Datacastle customers can host the program themselves or receive the service online in a "cloud-computing" configuration. "Some old-school people want direct control over their data," she said. "But the cloud process is more configurable and scalable."

— Charles Bermant