| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Milwaukee, WI, U.S. |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Employees | 93 |
| Website | PKWARE.com |
PKWARE, Inc. was founded in 1986 by Phil Katz, co-inventor of the ZIP standard. PKWARE provides data-centric security solutions across all major computing platforms, and is known for its data compression and file management solutions. Organizations in industries such as banking, financial services, healthcare and government use PKWARE solutions to solve a variety of common business problems relating to data security, compression, and file management.
Contents |
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Phil Katz starts distributing the PKXARC utility. |
| 1986 | PKWARE is founded by Phil Katz |
| 1988 | Lawsuit from SEA over distribution of the PKARC utility. |
| 1989 | PKWARE stop distributing PKARC
.ZIP file format is introduced, first PKZIP version is released. |
| 2001 | New management team, led by George Haddix and backed by investment-banking firm Grace Matthews, purchase PKWARE[1] |
| 2002 | PKWARE Partners with RSA Security, Inc.[2]
PKWARE Acquires Ascent Solutions [3] Awarded PC Magazine's Editors' Choice for data compression software[4] |
| 2004 | SecureZIP is released for Windows Desktop, Windows Server, UNIX, and Linux[5] |
| 2005 | SecureZIP extends to midrange and mainframe platforms[6] |
| 2006 | SecureZIP PartnerLink is released[7] |
| 2009 | Novacap Techologies and Maranon Capital, in partnership with management, acquire PKWARE[8]
PKWARE names new CEO, V. Miller Newton[9] |
Phil Katz was granted a patent in September, 1991 for his efficient search functions used in the PKZIP compression process.[10] In 2001 and 2005, PKWARE was awarded patents for patching technology used within PKZIP products.[11] In 2005, PKWARE was awarded a patent for methods used to manage .ZIP files within the Windows file manager and Outlook.[12] In total PKWARE holds four patents, has over fourteen pending patents and is referenced in over eighty patents.[13]
PKWARE publishes an Application Note on the .ZIP file format.[14] This Application Note ensures continued interoperability of the .ZIP file format for all users, The APPNOTE provides developers a general description and technical details of the .ZIP file storage specification.
ZIP Reader is a free Windows utility.[15] Any ZIP file can be opened with the reader program, regardless of where it was created. To open an archive, the user can drag and drop the desired zip file over the program and it will extract. A second method is to simply select which file to extract from within the utility. An email address is required to download ZIP Reader from the PKWARE website.[15]
PKPAK (formerly known as PKARC) is a software utility for MS-DOS systems that allows the compression (and decompression using the PKXARC/PKUNPAK utilities) of multiple files into the ARC file format.
PKZIP is a software utility that allows for the compression/decompression of multiple files and folders into a single archive.[16] The name PKZIP comes from a combination of Phil Katz, the inventor, and ZIP, for the ZIP file format.[16] Katz co-created the ZIP file format after a legal dispute with Software Enhancement Associates (SEA) over their ARC archiver. PKZIP was a faster alternative than ARC and was quickly adopted.
Originally, PKZIP was written as shareware for DOS.[16] Since its creation, PKWARE has expanded support of PKZIP to Windows Desktop, Windows Server, UNIX, Linux, IBM i, and zSeries platforms. A zip archive can be transferred among any of these platforms when creating and extracting with PKZIP.
New versions of PKZIP added strong encryption algorithms to accommodate security needs.
SecureZIP was released in 2004 by PKWARE as an extension of PKZIP. SecureZIP not only contained the same compression and passphrase protection as PKZIP but also introduced digital signature authentication and digital certificate-based encryption.[5]
For a brief period of time, PKWARE offered SecureZIP Express, a free version of SecureZIP available only on Windows Desktop, for non-commercial use. SecureZIP Express came with the option of receiving a Comodo digital certificate, good for one year. PKWARE discontinued SecureZIP Express at the end of 2009. Comodo certificates are still available with purchased copies of SecureZIP.
SecureZIP uses a contingency key in its Enterprise version of the software. This key is essentially a master key. Contingency keys are necessary for audit review, or in the case of lost or stolen passphrases.[17] The contingency key is assigned to a trusted user in the organization. That key is then used with every encrypted file as part of the natural work flow.[17]
Further extending the PKWARE product family, PartnerLink was released in 2006.[7] As an extension of SecureZIP, PKWARE customers could become "sponsors" and provide an unlimited number of SecureZIP Partner utilities to the organization's business partners. This new licensing structure guaranteed secure exchange between business partners. The SecureZIP Partner software provided to customers can only be used to communicate with its sponsoring organization. Like PKZIP and SecureZIP, PartnerLink is available on all major computing platforms.[7]