Tech News - Siebel Systems Unveils 'Homeland Security' Software

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Siebel Systems Unveils 'Homeland Security' Software

11/07/2001

SAN MATEO, Calif. (Reuters) - Siebel Systems Inc., the world largest seller of software to manage sales and customer service, on Wednesday became the latest Silicon Valley heavyweight to offer technology to help improve security in the United States.

With the announcement, Tom Siebel, the software maker's founder and chief executive, joins top executives such as Larry Ellison, of Oracle Corp., and Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Scott McNealy who already are backing a national identity system. Ellison has even gone so far as to offer the government free copies of Oracle database software.

Siebel takes a different approach, said Frank Bishop, vice president and general manager of Siebel Public Sector.

``They're trying to track the citizens on their side. This system ... is more tracking the bad guy side of it,'' Bishop said in contrasting the two security strategies.

Siebel -- offering its own solution -- also has no plans to give away its software, named Siebel Solutions for Homeland Security, which was built from existing technology, and aims to help law enforcement and other government agencies manage tips, share suspect information and dispatch emergency personnel.

GOVERNMENT BACK ON RADAR

The move by San Mateo, California-based Siebel Systems comes as Silicon Valley companies are looking to government spending to pick up some of the slack from dried-up corporate spending.

To that end, government -- which employs about one-fifth of all U.S. workers -- suddenly is back, in a big way, on technology companies' radar screens. But targeting government may not be a quick cure for Silicon Valley's sagging tech sector.

Government deals are slow-moving and ruled by a formalized bidding process. What's more, serious competitors often must engage in intense and expensive lobbying efforts just to stay in the game.

Siebel, which beefed up its government division before the deadly Sept. 11 attacks, already is in the mix. Board Member Marc Racicot, Montana's former governor and attorney general, has talked with new Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge about Siebel's new product, Bishop said.

The company also is making its pitch to state and local governments and think tanks.

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