PIOLINK has unveiled its remarkable performance of "more than 10-fold year-on-year operating profit in the first quarter of 2020" and "six consecutive quarters of surplus." With Corona 19, it recorded growth so high that it was "crazy" at a time when the global economy was frozen.

Cho Young-chul, CEO of PIOLINK, said, "It is very encouraging that PIOLINK has achieved significant growth despite many companies and institutions starting telecommuting with Corona 19 and delaying the scheduled IT budget execution," adding, "This is the result of our continued investment over the past two decades to provide fast service, the best digital experience and safe security in a connected society and cloud environment."

PIOLINK, which marks its 20th anniversary in July 2020, has a key competitive edge that no one can match by developing and manufacturing both hardware and software. PIOLINK's products ensure maximum performance, function and stability under all conditions, giving it a technical advantage that no competitor can implement.

It has become an unrivaled leader in the application transmission controller (ADC), web firewall and security switch markets, and is also growing at an alarming rate in the security and consulting markets. It is also providing technologies for the era of the fourth industrial revolution by supplying a series of new optimized services and solutions for cloud, IoT and operating technology (OT) environments.

PIOLINK's business portfolio is closely related to the digital New Deal that the government invests heavily government. High-capacity traffic in hyper-connected societies that are implemented through cloud and IoT and high-performance ADCs for handling various applications are typical examples.

In order to ensure the user experience of various types of application services to customers in various environments, high-performance ADCs are needed to evenly distribute traffic to servers, firewalls, and VPNs even when traffic is heavy. Piaolink 'PAS-K' is a high-performance ADC that satisfies these needs and provides nonstop services. In the "IDC Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker" released in the first quarter of 2020, "PAS-K" recorded a 35% market share in 2019, continuing its No. 1 ranking for four consecutive years since 2016.

"PAS-K" is growing faster due to increased online classes and telecommuting due to Corona19. With more work to be done online, infrastructure upgrades are needed for application services that guarantee the user experience of a distributed environment. As a result, demands for upgrading and extending ADC equipment have increased significantly.

"PAS-K" is particularly strong in the education and financial markets, and while participating in a project to upgrade large-scale dedicated circuits for educational institutions, it has doubled sales at public procurement country markets. The company achieved more than 20% growth in the financial market alone compared to the previous year due to the relocation of the computer center of the first financial institution, the establishment of a cloud data center, and the expansion of opportunities to participate in next-generation projects such as FinTech.

The security business also led to the high growth of PIOLINK. In particular, in a rapidly changing environment such as cloud, telecommuting, online classes, and non-face-to-face care, more sophisticated and large-scale cyber threats are being demanded. With the free use of personal information allowed in this environment, privacy issues are also becoming a serious social issue.

PIOLINK's intelligent, high-performance web firewall "WEBFRONT-K" and security switch "TiFRONT" are recognized as the best solutions for these needs. WEBFRONT-K, which protects the web that is directly targeted or used as a means of attack, and TiFRONT, which intelligently enhances internal security by integrating security with L2/L3 switches, have recently been recognized as an essential security solution for the environment.

WEBFRONT-K of PIOLINK is well-known for its intelligent and high-performance web fire barriers. WEBFRONT-K, which guarantees the best performance in Korea, is equipped with a machine learning-based threat detection engine that can quickly and accurately respond to threats that are becoming more intelligent in the cloud environment.

TiFRONT was recognized as the most optimized solution for recent environments with a high preference for non-face-to-face and remote work with Corona 19. TiFRONT is a solution that integrates internal network security and cloud-type management capabilities with L2/L3 switches, and it remotely processes everything from security switch installation to fault management and replacement to meet the needs of the untact environment. Because it holds a patent for ZTI (zero-touch installation) technology that can be operated by a user simply connecting a switch without any change in settings, it is easy to install and operate without sufficient IT and security experts.

In fact, it has successfully installed and operated more than 1,000 switches at about 700 offices in 22 cities and counties under the Jeollanam-do Provincial Government. It is receiving high praise for perfectly realizing ZTI ideal in actual operating environment.

TiFRONT, which is provided as a cloud-managed product, continues to grow significantly in Japan. Japan is a long island terrain north and south, and labor costs are high, so if IT management personnel are sent directly, the time and cost burden are very high. Cloud-type TiFRONT can be easily installed and configured by customers and is managed through the cloud, so it can be operated without having to be visited by experts. In response, Japanese IT managed businesses are providing security controls and threat response services using cloud security switches.

"PIOLINK will lead the evolution of application networks, which are key capabilities for cloud transformation, while providing one-stop services that extend to web security, intelligent attack defense, security control and consulting," said Cho Young-chul, CEO of PIOLINK"

PIOLINK is diversifying its business into security controls and consulting services. If you are a company that manages data or provides non-face-to-face services, you believe that "one-stop integrated security services" with security solutions, controls, and consulting suitable for the service are essential and are actively carrying out the project. 50% of the total workforce is invested in security control and consulting businesses, and it is recruiting and educating high-quality security experts, improving the human resources development process, and greatly increasing the level of security services.

"As digital transformation accelerates, network and security will not be able to operate separately. "We need to combine security services such as security controls and security consulting to achieve stable and fast digital innovation," he said. "PIOLINK aims to provide one-stop services that lead to web security, intelligent attack defense, security control and consulting while leading the evolution of application networks, which are key capabilities for cloud transformation."

Security services can accelerate growth in a culture of high security maturity. In Korea, it is difficult to provide services with high-quality experts because security services are mainly for compliance, not risk management. PIOLINK is not looking at the "Red Ocean" security service market, but is carrying out its business with the aim of taking it to the next level with advanced security services that are essential in the process of digital innovation.

PIOLINK was recognized for its high level of expertise in control in the market as it provided remote and dispatch control services to NHN affiliates and public, financial, large companies and power plants. Its scalability is also very high as it supports clouds that are widely used in South Korea such as AWS, NHN Toast, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), KT, and LG U+.

It has also made notable achievements in security consulting. In particular, the company is firmly maintaining its No. 1 ranking in performance of ISMS-P consulting, while also actively carrying out ISO27001 certification and GDPR response projects. Furthermore, it is expanding into cloud and FinTech security consulting.

PIOLINK has also declared IoT and OT (Operation Technology) fields as next-generation growth engines and entered markets. As social infrastructure such as airports, roads and water supply and sewerage systems are being digitized, security risks are also rising. PIOLINK protects smart IoT environment that is rapidly evolving through web firewalls, cloud security switches, CCTV-only switches, and industrial switches.

PIOLINK's CCTV-only switch is a solution that integrates security of CCTV network and IP camera password management, and can easily manage camera information, malfunction, and location while blocking harmful traffic and video takeover attacks that are spreading through IP cameras. Hundreds of IP cameras can be easily managed from a single device, and user-friendly management environment can be provided to greatly reduce the burden of work at the control center.

Industrial switches that support various OT environments provide security threat response effects as IT-OT convergence environment spreads. Industrial switches that optimize TiFRONT security switch function for OT environment can be applied to large facilities such as airports and ports, smart cities, and smart factories. It has already been supplied to multiple domestic and foreign customers and has achieved stable results.

"PIOLINK industrial switches can satisfy network efficiency and security at once by integrating security functions into switches essential to OT networks," CEO Cho said. "TiFRONT industrial switches will be an alternative to IT-OT convergence environments that require high stability and strong security."

Fostering Talent and Fostering Technology Companies

PIOLINK has also contributed greatly to the development of technology by actively investing in startups with growth prospects over the past two decades.

Source: Datanet