Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 12, 2002 (translated from German)
East German virus hunters with a patent
The newcomer from Leipzig has invented a real-time data filter for the internet and wants to market it
By Steffen Uhlmann
Nice bad internet world: Viruses knock out computers; spam mail and a load of data rubbish are blocking up electronic mailboxes; providers of premium-rate phone numbers, so-called dialers, rip off unsuspecting surfers. However, the defence is tiring and turns into an endless game. Recently installed safety methods are soon evaded because dialer pirates and criminal hackers have long found new secret ways into the computers. René Holzer knows these horror scenarios inside out. "The damage caused by computer viruses is estimated at 8.5 billion Euros per year worldwide", says the head of the Nutzwerk GmbH in Leipzig. It is unbelievable how much those dodgy profiteers earn with the misuse of premium-rate numbers. They have even started to use exotic islands as a base to install their vicious programs illegally on computers. Then they cash in and the internet surfers only realize it when they get their astronomically high phone bills. "There is a central international dialer network about to develop", warns Holzer. The dialer pirates now have the motto: "Dialers of all countries unite!"Gloomy Predictions
Holzer himself remains cool in spite of his gloomy predictions. The smart Saxon is convinced that he has found an effective protection against criminal machinations and intellectual rubbish on the internet. "With our data filter we are cleaning everything up and take away the fears from the information society", says the head of Nutzwerk. This is what Ramona Wonneberger, who leads the business of the small company together with Holzer, believes as well. 200 years ago, she says, people were scared of lightning strikes. Then the lightning conductor was invented and the fear vanished. "Now our SaferSurf technology is going to delete the fear of computer viruses from the minds."
"Revolutionary" is what the East Germans say about the protection program developed by Nutzwerk. The system seems to be simple. SaferSurf checks all incoming data and filters out unwanted ad banners, e-mails, viruses and dialer programs. Only "clean" bits and bytes are passed on to the internet user. "Everything else", says Holzer, "goes into the trash". The reason why this is so special is that the filtering process is done within the internet and in real-time. "The protection program is installed at the provider's", says Holzer. There it is maintained and updated at least every five minutes. The advantage is obvious: Not every single computer needs the latest software update. This way companies, public institutions, schools and private individuals can safely surf the internet at a much lower cost.
Since their "Real-time data filter for binary data streams" got the patent number 19958638 and they were awarded the Roland Berger Strategy Consultants special innovation prize 2001 by the city of Leipzig, the two Nutzwerk founders believe in the future of their business. "When we won the Roland Berger award we estimated that only one third of the internet users would use protection via the provider and pay for it", says Holzer. "According to our latest survey even more than 60 percent would do it."
The 36 year old has always believed in his prospects as an entrepreneur though he is a newcomer in the internet business. In 1988 Holzer began to study heating and sanitary engineering in Erfurt. When he finished his studies in 1992, not only the GDR had gone, but also his desire to work in this field. "At the time I was looking for a business idea that would allow me to be self-employed", remembers Holzer. "By accident I came across the Heat Insulation Ordinance." An ordinance that gives architects and builders a hard time, because it keeps changing and therefore has to be updated frequently. Even during his studies Holzer started to write a program for it. He stresses that this was his first program altogether. The result of his first work was not too bad. The license was immediately bought by big building material manufacturers like Ytong in Munich. From then on Holzer was the boss of a one-man business. Of course this was not yet the big idea, says Holzer. "But it was enough to pay for my insurance and a small car."
Ramona Wonneberger, who comes from Merseburg just like Holzer, had a bit more "turbulent professional life": technical apprenticeship, a degree in economics, two years work at Carl Zeiss Jena, four years as an academic assistant at the university of Halle. Finally she started up her own engineer and designer business. "My first customer", remembers the 39 year old, "was Alamo car rental". Pure chance brought them together in 1996. The young businessman Holzer was still looking for a source of money. Wonneberger wanted a business partner. One year later they joined forces and founded the Nutzwerk GmbH with "100000 borrowed Deutschmarks", as Wonneberger puts it. By that time Holzer had already had his "ingenious idea" for the data filter. His education as a heating and sanitary engineer, says Holzer, was a great help. Water and gas are going through pipelines and have to be filtered. Why shouldn't the same principle work for data streams? Holzer asked and started to look for a solution. First alone, later in cooperation with a young software specialist from Chemnitz who is now head of development at Nutzwerk. At the end of 1999 the data filter was ready to patent it. "We scraped together all our money for this", remembers Wonneberger.
Secured Base
Revolutions take their time if they land on the desk of a distrustful patent inspector. The Nutzwerk team had to wait for about two years before they finally got the patent for Germany, Europe and the USA. "If a former Microsoft Manager had not invested in us in the meantime", says Holzer, "Nutzwerk would not exist today". However, in 2002 the company that now has about a dozen of employees is standing on a relatively secure financial base. After the patent had been granted, also the holding company of the Regional Bank Saxony invested in Nutzwerk. "That will keep us afloat over the next three years", says Wonneberger, who now almost exclusively takes care of the marketing of the data filter. And this is going well so far. Already in July 2002 Nutzwerk entered into a partnership with NTT/VERIO, the world's biggest business provider. "The Japanese-American company includes SaferSurf in its offers", explains Holzer. At the moment Nutzwerk is also negotiating with Telekom and AOL. "They are checking our filter now", he adds and then grins: "I just hope they are quicker than the patent engineers from Munich."
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