[Cryptech Core] Diamond Key Security status update

[Leif Johansson]

On 2018-01-26 15:31, Phil Roberts wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I think you all know about what we’ve been trying to start with Diamond
> Key Security, but here’s a short summary.  We have set up a
> not-for-profit company in the United States to build a business that
> will sustain ongoing CrypTech development.  Technically our mission is
> broader than CrypTech, but in the near-term our goal is to get CrypTech
> onto a sustainable funding plan, expand the work that it does, and then
> add similar related technology projects.   
> 
> We have applied for 501(c)(3) status under the United States tax code. 
> It will be some time before we find out the result of that application,
> but our counsel is quite optimistic it will be confirmed.  Regardless of
> the response, we will end up as some kind of not-for-profit in the US.
> 
> The big question has been whether we would get funded.  The Internet
> Society funded Stuart and me in 2017 to do business development for
> CrypTech, to do fund-raising for Diamond Key and CrypTech, and in
> general to prepare to build a business to sustain CrypTech.  They have
> agreed to fund us for another year, with enough money to pay not only
> us, but also to hire a group of folks to help build the business.  So we
> intend to move ahead to build a product based on CrypTech and to get it
> into the market in this calendar year.
> 
> What are the implications for CrypTech?
> 
> 1.      Diamond Key Security and CrypTech mission: we are committed to
> making the CrypTech project a long-term success.  To us, that means
> seeing commercial product offerings based on CrypTech.  We plan to offer
> one ourselves in 2018 but in the longer term we expect to be enabling
> other entities to build product based on CrypTech.  We want to see
> CrypTech used in many applications and deployments and we intend to
> facilitate that.  In our commercial product we anticipate adding both
> new software and new hardware to the CrypTech offering and making that
> available in the same way the CrypTech software and hardware is
> available today.  There may be some part of the offering that is
> particular to our product, but our intent is to make as much of it
> open-source as possible.
> 
> 2.      Funding and fund-raising: the funding from the Internet Society
> is for building the business at Diamond Key.  Funding ongoing
> development for CrypTech is independent of that.  But, to that end,
> Diamond Key Security has hired a professional fund-raiser.  Many of you
> probably know Drew Dvorshak who handled fund-raising at the Internet
> Society as it related to the IETF.  We hired him to help with
> fund-raising for both Diamond Key Security and CrypTech.  The CrypTech
> development team is in good shape right now with respect to funding. 
> There is over 100k USD in the bank and we have commitments from funders
> for an additional 200k USD soon.  We are committed to continue to find
> funding for CrypTech development going forward.
> 
> 3.      Staffing: we plan to hire additional staff as soon as possible. 
> This will mainly be support personnel but we will also be hiring some
> software and hardware developers.  If you know folks that are available,
> interested in CrypTech type work, and who you think would be good for
> this, please send them my way.  We are interested in folks outside the
> US as well as inside.
> 
> 4.      Diamond Key Security board of directors: our board of directors
> is composed of 5 members.  Stuart and I are directors.  Tim Thompson is
> a third board member.  We asked him to help us initially as he has a lot
> of business experience with large network operators and although he has
> retired from his professional career he spends his time as a volunteer
> consultant helping not-for-profit companies succeed and excel at
> fulfilling their missions.  Olaf Kolkman will be a director appointed by
> the Internet Society who is funding Diamond Key Security in 2018.  We
> have a fifth board seat that we would like CrypTech to fill.  For the
> time being I have asked Lucy Lynch to take that seat as a representative
> for the CrypTech project.  She is retired and agreed to do it with the
> knowledge that we would invite the CrypTech community to appoint someone
> to our board right away. 
> 
> The one ask we have for the community at this point in time is to agree
> as a community on someone to appoint to the Board of Directors of
> Diamond Key Security to represent the interests of the CrypTech
> community on our board.
> 
> I’m happy to answer any questions or provide more information.  Just let
> me know.

My only comment is: great news! This is really good news for the project
and hopefully will help us "grow up" a bit!

	Cheers Leif