Lead Partner: Stewart Alsop, Bill Crowell

Device Authority has developed a core security technology that allows  enterprises, government agencies and online service providers to  validate connections by focusing on the identity of the device, rather  than just the user. The company merged with a British company called  Cryptosoft in 2016 and is positioned as the easiest way for service  providers to integrate traditional encryption systems with  hardware-based authentication and over the air updates.

Stewart is a Partner. He spent the first 20 years of his professional career as a business journalist and commentator. It did not start well: he earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1975, but had to stay the summer to complete his credits. Then he couldn’t find a job, so he went to bartending school. But bars weren’t hiring. He persisted and, from 1975 to 1996, had a series of jobs in which he learned how to be a business editor. This included becoming Executive Editor of Inc. Magazine, where he became fascinated by both entrepreneurship and personal computers, and as the third editor of InfoWorld, the job that got him moved from Boston to Silicon Valley in 1983.

In 1985, having been fired from two jobs, he started his own business, a newsletter called P.C. Letter, which became widely read in the executive ranks of the major hardware and software companies that formed and grew the personal computer industry. He also started two conferences, Agenda and Demo, and published the “Social Register to the PC Industry.”

In 1996, Stewart changed careers to become a venture capitalist, joining New Enterprise Associates, a top-tier venture capital firm with a long track record of success in investing in early stage and growth companies. He was a general partner with New Enterprise Associates and led that firm’s investments in companies such as TiVo, Portola Communications (sold to Netscape), Netcentives, Glu Mobile, and Xfire. From 1996 to 2003, he wrote Alsop On InfoTech for Fortune.

Stewart left NEA in 2005 and invited Gilman Louie to become his partner in a new venture capital firm designed to put to use everything the partners had learned about entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation over the prior 25 years. From 2005-2013, Stewart was a member of the board of directors of Sonos, Inc., which has become a thought leader in the world of digital audio and the digital living room.

Stewart Alsop

Partner

William P. Crowell is a Partner and independent consultant specializing in information technology, security, and intelligence systems.

Until its acquisition by Cisco in June 2007, he was Chairman of Broadware Technologies, a video surveillance software company. He was also a director at ArcSight, Inc., which was acquired by HP in 2010; Narus, Inc., which was acquired by Boeing in 2010; Six3 Systems, which was acquired by CACI in 2013, Air Patrol, wireless network security company acquired by Sysorex in 2014, and Fixmo, Inc., a mobile device security company acquired by Good Technologies in 2014. He was also a director at SafeNet, Inc., an encryption, data protection, and authentication solutions company, which was acquired by Gemalto in 2015. He also served as a Director on the boards of Proximex and the SAP NS2 Proxy board.

Crowell served as President and CEO of Cylink Corporation, a public company and leading provider of e-business security solutions, from 1998 to 2003, when Cylink was acquired by SafeNet, Inc.

Crowell came to Cylink from the National Security Agency, where he held a series of senior positions in operations, analysis, strategic planning, research and development, and finance. He served as Deputy Director of Operations from 1991 to 1994, running its core signals intelligence mission. In February 1994 he was appointed by President Clinton as the Deputy Director of NSA, and served in that post until his retirement in September 1997. From 1989 to 1990, Crowell served as vice president at Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation (later acquired by Titan Corp), leading business development in space technology, signal processing, and intelligence systems. In April 1999, Crowell was appointed to the President’s Export Council (PEC), which advised the administration on trade and export policy.

After 9/11 he served on the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, which published three landmark studies on Homeland Security and information sharing. He has also served on numerous panels to investigate and improve military command and control, intelligence, and security systems, and served as Chairman of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Senior Advisory Group from 2007 – 2014. He currently serves on the Board of the Open Source Election Technology Institute and the Advisory Board of the Entanglement Institute (quantum science research).

Crowell is an expert on network and information security issues. In December 2008 Security Magazine selected him as one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Security Industry. In May 2007 he co-authored the book, “Physical and Logical Security Convergence,” published by Elsevier. He has been quoted in many trade and business publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, USA Today, Information Week, Network World, Computer World, Federal Computer Week, CIO Magazine and the San Jose Mercury News. Crowell has also appeared on CBS MarketWatch, CNET News, CNBC, and The Charlie Rose Show. He was the technical advisor to the TV series, “Threat Matrix” during its run on ABC in the 2003 season.

Device Authority

Cyber Security, IoT Security

Company Overview

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