How US entrepreneur's global internet security firm started life in Bradford

INVENTOR Melih Abdulhayoglu has come a long way since his days as a young electronics engineer in Bradford driving around in an old Austin car.

The company he founded here in 1998 as a spin-off from his studies at the University of Bradford where he graduated in 1991, is now a US-based international group specialising in IT security for both individuals and companies, preventing online fraud and offering other 'cyber world' products .

Turkish-born Melih is chief executive of Comodo, based in New Jersey, employing around 600 staff. But Bradford remains at the heart of its global operations.

The Comodo CA Ltd business at the Listerhills Science Park is a 12-strong operation which provides IT support to the group as well as creating security certification products which verify .Comodo's offering to users around the world.

Robin Alden, chief technical officer, who has been with Comodo since 2000, said the Bradford operation remains a crucial part of the wider business providing technical support to various group companies.

He said: "The work we do in Bradford is at the core of Comodo's operations. Working with businesses in the Comodo family we play a central role in enabling the group to achieve Melih's aim of creating trust online.

"Our SSL certification products ensure that anyone paying for good or services online can do so securely and meet standards laid down by credit card companies."

The local operation has played a leading role the global fight against internet criminals and also patented a system to stop thieves getting information from the chips on credit cards. That development boosted Comodo's reputation as a leader in the field of data encryption systems aimed at the mass market.

At the time Melih told the Telegraph & Argus that, while many of the innovations in computer programming had developed in America, Comodo would retain its Bradford operation to help ensure Britain was at the heart of the computer security industry.

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