DEVOPSdigest

Redgate acquired Net 2000, a provider of data masking solutions for SQL Server and Oracle databases.

Founded in 1995, Net 2000 has more than a decade's experience in the data masking market. Its data masking technology replaces sensitive data like personally-identifiable information or credit card and payment details with fictional data that retains the look-and-feel of the original information. The database remains perfectly usable for development and still operates in the same way as the real data for testing and analysis, but the data content is secure.

The addition of the data masking solution to Redgate’s portfolio is a natural move for the software company, which counts 91% of Fortune 100 companies among its customers. Many of them work in industries where the implications of data privacy and sensitivity are already significant business concerns. Masked data offers valuable advantages across a wide range of business areas including business analysis, development, testing, and cloud adoption – any situation where there's a privacy or security risk associated with using real, identifiable data.

"Data masking is a great fit with Redgate's current SQL Server and Oracle database solutions," says Mark Cheverton, Redgate's CTO. "It complements our existing Database DevOps portfolio, and it's a strong addition to the data governance offering we're launching in 2018, ahead of the deadline for GDPR compliance. It means Redgate is in a great position to help customers balance the need to deliver software faster with the need to remain compliant."

Net 2000 already has a wide range of customers, including those in the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors. Redgate intends to improve the solution yet further by applying the same industry-leading user experience and design principles that make its products ingeniously simple.

“Our intention,” Cheverton concludes, “is to give users of SQL Server and Oracle databases a solution that enables them to comply with regulations like GDPR without hindering their ability to apply agile development practices to their databases.”