Editorial

LORCA teams with Splunk to help cyber start-ups scale businesses

Partnership sees Splunk provide access to its OEM Embedded Licensing Programme

Posted 18 September 2020 by Christine Horton


The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) is to provide its cohort companies with access to Splunk’s OEM Embedded Licensing Programme.

As part of the co-marketing collaboration, Splunk will provide LORCA’s start-up members that join the programme with technical and engineering guidance, including access to its OEM programme, to help them scale their business.

LORCA is delivered by Plexal, the innovation centre and co-working space

“Delivering a programme for the most promising cyber companies in the world means providing support from partners with the expertise to match this potential,” said Saj Huq, director, LORCA.

“We’re delighted to be working with Splunk, whose technical excellence and global network will enable our members to develop their solutions effectively and scale in international markets. At LORCA, our aim is to be a catalyst for collaboration. Splunk adds another prestigious name to our partner ecosystem, which is crucial to helping the UK cyber industry thrive.”

Using machine learning, the Splunk ‘Data-to-Everything’ platform monitors, investigates, analyses and acts on all forms of business, IT, security, and Internet of Things (IoT) data to build data queries and visualisations.

Beyond technical support, eligible LORCA companies can also collaborate with Splunk’s network of industry partners or other technology vendors with which they integrate.

LORCA is backed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and delivered by Plexal, the innovation centre and co-working space established by Delancey.

Societal impact of cybersecurity

In its LORCA Live cybersecurity conference this week, Plexal’s managing director, Andrew Roughan, spoke of the need to support the cybersecurity industry.

“Stimulating cyber education and increasing access to cyber jobs for people across the country will not only answer some of the problems caused by unemployment as a result of the pandemic, but it will also create a better and more commercially successful outcome for start-ups and businesses,” he said.

Roughan also highlighted the societal impact of the cybersecurity industry.

“Often, cybersecurity is considered to be highly technical, scientific and somewhat detached from the real world. However, when speaking to our cohort companies…what struck me was the integral role cybersecurity plays in shaping the relationship between society and technology and the impact for change this industry can have.”

He pointed to disinformation and fake news, electoral interference and cyber warfare, alongside sharing data for the good of public safety, and enabling new technologies that will transform transport, finance and healthcare.

“If there is an economic imperative to support cyber start-ups, there is also a moral and an ethical imperative to,” he said.

“I believe that our start-ups can not only create a stronger economy for the UK, but also create a society that safer, fairer, more secure and better informed. If we work together, we can use cybersecurity to drive positive and long-term social change.”