������Ƶ

Middlesbrough’s Industrial Technology Systems (ITS) is creating jobs in the North East after striking a new deal with a US firm.

ITS has partnered with New Jersey’s Radiflow to provide its customers with new cybersecurity technology to protect their businesses.

ITS was founded by managing director Malcolm Knott in 1991 as a one-stop-shop for computing and control services for industrial businesses. The firm provides its clients with management information systems, process control systems, regulatory compliance services and project management and engineering services.

But the company has now boosted its offering by providing operational technology (OT) cybersecurity after signing a deal with Radiflow to use its tech. In particular, ITS will be using Radiflow’s iSID Industrial Threat Detection System to map the industrial assets of its customers, monitor the network for anomalies and detect and respond to security breach alerts.

The deal will create around five jobs at the Teesside firm. ITS will be looking to hire two to three project engineers, a senior project engineer and a consultant to help roll out the new services.

Mark Taylor, director of business development at ITS, said: “Radiflow’s portfolio of game-changing industrial cybersecurity technologies empowers us to offer a new set of valuable services for our customers to maintain complete visibility and control of their OT and IT networks.

“The Radiflow technologies give us the essential tools to detect anomalies in real-time to the operations of a network and implement the appropriate measures to protect the facilities of customers from any cybersecurity weaknesses or vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious third parties.”

ITS has decided to expand its services after noticing a number of its customers have been merging its IT and operational technology networks. This means that the manufacturers are now exposed to a new set of cybersecurity risks that could interrupt production.

Offering the OT cybersecurity services allows the firm to protect these manufacturers from these new threats.

David Moss, vice president of sales at Radiflow, added: “As we ramp up our presence in the process manufacturing space, we are seeing more and more system integrators, MSSPs and end users looking for OT cybersecurity solutions to address the risks of business interruption in operational environments.

“We have strong expectations for building a long term relationship with ITS and playing a significant role in helping the company better serve its customers.”