Sensage
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Predecessor | Addamark Technologies Inc. |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Redwood City , United States |
| Products | Event data warehouse software |
| Owner | Private |
Sensage Inc. is a privately owned provider of data warehouse software headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company delivers enterprise-grade solutions designed to capture and archive event data, facilitating centralized storage, search capabilities, and analysis to identify fraud, monitor trends, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
A significant portion of Sensage's revenue—over 70%—is generated through collaborations with both international and regional partners such as EMC, HP, Cerner, and McAfee. The firm’s growth is supported by venture capital investments from entities including Sierra Ventures, Canaan Partners, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners, FTVentures, and Sand Hill Capital.
Corporate history
Originally established as Addamark Technologies Inc. in 2000, the company adopted the Sensage name in October 2004, coinciding with the launch of version 3.0 of its leading security information management (SIM) solution.
Throughout its development phase, Sensage attracted funding from venture capital firms such as Sierra Ventures, Canaan Partners, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners, FTVentures, and Sand Hill Capital.
In October 2012, KEYW Corp., based in Hanover, MD, acquired Sensage. Subsequently, on July 31 (year unspecified), KEYW divested its commercial products division, which became Hexis Cyber Solutions, Corp. Under this new entity, Sensage’s platform was rebranded as HawkEye AP (Analytics Platform), while the Active Defense Grid product was renamed HawkEye G; these products continue to be Hexis’s flagship offerings.
Technology
Sensage utilizes a columnar database design rather than the traditional relational database framework. The company holds U.S. patent #7,024,414 covering its method of transforming table data into columns, encoding each column into a continuous data stream, and storing it sequentially. This column-oriented storage technique eliminates reliance on indices, thereby improving both data compression efficiency and retrieval performance for event data.
Its event data warehouse software employs extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) processes to import data records, compress them, and distribute storage across multiple server nodes. Query execution occurs in parallel across these nodes to enhance processing speed.
Sensage’s platform integrates seamlessly with enterprise applications like SAP, Oracle (PeopleSoft and Siebel), Lawson, and Cerner. Its technology provides precise analytics essential for use cases such as fraud detection.
Addressing the industry’s move towards cloud computing, Sensage developed software capable of clustering and configuration within VMware environments leveraging hypervisor technology. This approach optimizes resource utilization including CPU cores, memory allocation, and virtual hardware components. Additionally, the software supports storage virtualization, enabling integration of SANs (storage area networks), NAS (network-attached storage), and CAS (content addressable storage) systems as online repositories within cloud or VMware infrastructures.
Products & Services
The primary product offered by Sensage is its event data warehouse software that aggregates complex business transaction streams from diverse network sources. It analyzes and stores this information while providing a consolidated interface for event searching. In 2008, the company upgraded its user interface to accommodate users without technical backgrounds.
Traditionally, clients have employed Sensage’s solutions for security information and event management (SIEM), handling log data for security monitoring and forensic investigations. Many organizations require retention of logs for a minimum of one year to satisfy audit regulations. For instance, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida utilizes Sensage tools to conduct real-time surveillance aimed at identifying and mitigating security threats proactively.
Sensage has established OEM partnerships with HP—integrated within the HP Compliance Log Warehouse (CLW) appliance—and Cerner for healthcare-related applications. The HP CLW appliance incorporates Sensage’s software as its core log management engine to automate compliance reporting under standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley and PCI. Organizations like Choice Hotels deploy the HP CLW solution worldwide to streamline network analysis and comply with PCI DSS across more than 5,800 sites.
Furthermore, Sensage’s event data warehouse integrates with EMC Centera archival storage systems to manage call detail records (CDRs) for telecommunications companies and ISPs adhering to the European Union’s Data Retention Directive. This legislation requires retention of records for up to three years to support law enforcement inquiries. Telefónica O2 Ireland employs this system to process approximately 50 million CDRs daily while fulfilling regulatory obligations.
Further reading
- Sensage Official Site
- The Quiet Surge in Log Management, CNET
- How Enterprises Are Leveraging Logs, Dark Reading
- PCI Compliance Drives Demand for Log Management Solutions, SearchSecurity
- Increasing Reliance on Log Data for Compliance and Threat Mitigation, Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal
- Achieving PCI DSS Compliance, Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal