James Tsiolis brings more than three decades of funds management and capital markets experience to his role as CEO and Executive Chairman of SecureLink Networks. Since joining the company (then known as Netlinkz) in 2016 as a major investor and Executive Chairman, he has recapitalised the business, repositioned its product strategy, and transformed it into a cloud-native cybersecurity company. Under his leadership, revenue grew from $1 million to $21 million, and the company expanded into China, Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia. James is also the co-founder of SecureLink Networks Inc., a joint venture between SecureLink and Philippine telecom PT&T Corp., and the founder of Strategic Capital Management, where he advised institutional investors with over $36 billion in assets.
James, could you start by walking us through SecureLink’s overall business footprint across Asia and the Pacific? And please tell us more about the company’s recent business focus and key milestones.
Securelink has offices in Manila, Cebu, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Melbourne with head office in Sydney.
Key Milestones:
- Established a Joint Venture in the Philippines in 2025 with PT&T.
- Australian Government’s Austrade inclusion of Securelink in the Austrade Export Market Growth Program providing Grants, Marketing, Consular support and networking opportunitiesto expand Securelink’s Cyber Security and Network Connectivity solutions into the ASEAN Region
- Partnership with IBM for our Network Security product AccessOne to be embedded into Watsonx-AI product offerings.
- Reseller of IBM Hardware in conjunction with AccessOne secure connectivity solution.
- Appointment of a China Market reseller, iLinkAll.
For small, medium and large enterprises across the Asia Pacific region, what are the most prominent network security challenges they are currently struggling with?
Cloud, applications, mobility and the digitization of business have changed business process and operations. Workforces are mobile (particularly in ASEAN) , every device (laptop, mobile phone, tablet) is an endpoint with business moving at the speed of connectivity. As mobility is adopted by enterprises of all sizes the key risk is the enterprises’ network, and the exposure mobility creates. As result the key challenges are cost, implementation and monitoring along with upgrades to network and the cost of the upgrades. Our focus is to introduce AccessOne to ASEAN corporates as a cost-effective alternative to major US network security products that involve capital intensive hardware purchases to implement. We help enterprises implement mobility via a cloud first approach – underpinned by infrastructure they control but don’t have to build. Providing each enterprise with the capability to access the digital economy on a scale with all the productivity benefits it allows.
The problems we solve for enterprises are:
1. Hybrid networks create attack surfaces that legacy architectures cant defend our software cloud based encrypted network solution prevents the attack surface and addresses the legacy network risk. Being software our solution is cheaper, being subscription based it has much less impact on the CAPEX requirements.
2. Performance is another critical requirement for enterprise. As mobility, IOT, robotics and machine learning increases sustained through put at scale is critical. Given networks degrade silently our software solution provides throughput at scale without requiring costly hardware upgrades and cost patch fixes.
3. Our software based solution reduces the requirement for hardware refreshes, reduces the reliance systems integration and reduces the depreciation exposure to hardware for an enterprise
4. Deployment is another challenge that increases costs and introduces delays because of the integration issues. Our software solutions can be deployed in hours as opposed to days or weeks. Allowing enterprise to operate efficiently.
5. We have a single pane orchestration solution allowing management and boards top make informed decisions but more importantly to manage network security risk.
Could you please tell us more about your recent joint venture in the Philippines, why you chose the Philippines as your first entry point in Southeast Asia? What experience can this JV bring to your future expansion across ASEAN, and what’s SecureLink’s overall vision and strategy for the ASEAN market moving forward?
Our local partner in the Philippines and co-owner of the Securelink joint venture is PT&T
PT&T (Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Company) founded in 1962 is one of the major telecommunications service providers in the Philippines. The company caters to Government, corporate, small/medium business, and residential segments across the country. PT&T has nationwide coverage of 607 cities, 29m households with 3m subscribers, 400,000 enterprise customers and four data centres.
We chose the Philippines because of its English-speaking workforce, access to talent and its US influenced corporate regulatory environment. Furthermore, the Philippines is a BPO hub which suits our broader strategy of making it the service hub for the Asean region. We believe the Philippines has a long standing service culture and hard working ethos which provides a strong underpinning to our hub for the regions.
Over time we will establish a lab that will provide software development capabilities for the region. And create an opportunity for us to identify local talent that can work with our core engineering and product team in Australia.
Also, Austrade has assisted Securelink in establishing a network of partners with our local management team that is led by James Valesquez (the former CEO and Chairman of PT&T) to promote our product. We were fortunate enough to qualify for the Austrade Export Market Growth program.
How do you define the core value and unique positioning of SecureLink in the competitive cybersecurity and network service industry?
Securelink offers software based network encryption without the cost of hardware. It is ubiquitous as the software operates on any hardware including legacy systems.
Our core value is simple to state: we make secure, intelligent networking something any enterprise can deploy — without the hardware, the complexity, or the runaway costs the industry has trained customers to accept.
The traditional model is broken. Legacy vendors sell expensive appliances, then meter you for every site, every remote worker, and every security feature you switch on. The result is a tangle of disconnected tools, unpredictable bills, and security gaps between the seams. SecureLink replaces all of that with a single, software-only platform that runs on infrastructure the customer already owns and rides on the internet connections they already pay for. Security, encryption, threat detection, and intelligent routing aren’t add-ons — they come switched on, in one predictable subscription.
Our unique positioning rests on three things.
First, we’re AI-native — and we’re not doing it alone. Through our partnership with IBM, we embed IBM Watsonx AI and IBM’s security technology directly into our platform. That gives our customers genuinely intelligent networks — networks that explain their own problems in plain language, predict and route around failures before they cause outages, and increasingly run themselves. Very few players in our category can credibly say “Built with IBM.” We can.
Second, we’re sovereign and software-only. Everything runs on the customer’s own or in-country infrastructure. For governments and regulated enterprises across Asia-Pacific — where data sovereignty is non-negotiable — that’s a decisive advantage over the global cloud-only providers.
Third, we’re built for this region, with the right partners. We’re an Australian company, taking a world-class platform into APAC and China through IBM’s global co-sell machinery and strong local partnerships. That combination — enterprise-grade technology, IBM’s credibility and reach, and genuine local delivery — is very hard for competitors to replicate.
So, when people ask how we compete against the Ciscos, Fortinets, and Zscalers of the world, the answer is that we don’t compete on their terms. We give customers more capability — AI-native security and connectivity, backed by IBM — with far less cost, complexity, and lock-in. In a market that’s spent twenty years adding boxes and bills, our edge is doing the opposite: more intelligence, more security, radically less friction.
James, with over 30 years of extensive experience spanning fund management, capital markets, and corporate leadership, we would love to hear more about your incredible career. And how has your long-term experience in capital markets and institutional investment shaped your management philosophy as a tech company CEO?
Having a thirty plus year career in investment management and research, focused on delivering consistent investment for institutional investors, with an emphasis on identifying investment opportunities early in the investment cycles. Early in my career as a Quantitative Analyst at James Capel Australia Limited I designed several quantitative techniques and analytical tools to identify investment trends in shares prices, options and market indices. developed databases and financial analytics as well as introducing quantitative based techniques which led to the numerous publications including The Portfolio Risk Analyser, Capel Commodity Comment and the James Capel Red Book an industry leading publication which was ranked #1. Followed by Head of Research and Investments at IPAC Securities where I helped establish a private equity infrastructure program in partnership with for example, Macquarie Bank and Deutsche Private Equity. Also, I was instrumental in establishing a number of investment programs with global financial institutions based in London, New York and Los Angeles.
As Chairman and Founder, Strategic Capital Management Limited (SCM), established in 2000 with an absolute investment return philosophy backed by a quantitative investment process to identify assets and asset managers around the world. SCM advised institutional investors (in excess of $36 billion) which included superannuation funds, government funds, pension schemes, endowments and family offices on establishing an absolute return risk budgeting process to develop asset allocation strategies and investment selection criteria. This included currency overlay programs. We expanded the operation to have offices in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and London to assist with the establishment of partnerships to provide information and deal flow for our clients. This included co investment in alternative assets with a particular focus on global infrastructure, aviation, rolling stock, energy and private equity with a focus on technology. More importantly we were investing in China, Russia, ASEAN and South America in the early 2000s.
As Executive Chairman & CEO, Securelink Networks Limited. (formerly Netlinkz Ltd) the creator of the Virtual Invisible Network, a globally patented, award-winning encrypted cybersecurity network that allows organisations to quickly connect sites, devices and staff over the internet through a unique network solution that is invisible when devices are connected. Key achievements: Launched Virtual Secure Network (replacing VIN) at the AWS Summit in Beijing in 2019. Revenue growth from $1m to $21m. expanded sales into China, Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia. Raised significant Capital to fund product development and sales channels. Re-engineered IP and created a product that functions at the forefront of Cloud, IoT Security. Established a relationship with China Telecom. Established a partnership relationship with iSoftStone, one of the largest software development companies in the world, with over 60,000 employees and 1,000+ Global Corporate Customers including 90+ Fortune 500 Companies.
I am the Founder and Chairman of Securelink Joint Venture in the Philippines established 2025 focused on secure connectivity solutions for the ASEAN region.
The Capital Markets and Investment Management experience has focused my approach to governance, stakeholder alignment, strategic execution, capital allocation, and long-term value creation. The experience spans far beyond traditional Board oversight and reflects a hands-on leadership style that has helped organizations navigate growth, transformation, new market expansion, and complex stakeholder environments.
My perspective on the Executive Chairman-CEO partnership is unique, having served as both a Board-sponsored Chairman and later transitioning into the CEO role gives me a unique understanding of how governance and executive leadership can work together effectively to drive performance, accountability, and sustainable growth.
The breadth of experience across technology, telecommunications, cybersecurity, financial services, international partnerships, capital markets, and shareholder engagement, combined with governance leadership and operational understanding provides a strong platform to drive a successful and profitable organization.
Successfully transforming the business from a boutique retail funds manager into a leading institutional investment adviser, while repositioning the organization, expanding internationally, strengthening stakeholder alignment, and delivering significant growth in profitability, demonstrates the kind of strategic leadership and long-term thinking that places an emphasis on creating value for shareholders, employees, clients, and the wider community, rather than focusing solely on financial outcomes.
What motivates me is the opportunity to help build organizations with long-term purpose, strong leadership, meaningful customer impact, and global potential. As an Executive Chairman, I evaluate opportunities through the lens of contribution, culture, partnership, and value creation.
The combination of Board leadership, governance expertise, investment experience, enterprise transformation, international growth, and ability to partner effectively with executive leadership is a key to building successful businesses no matter the industry.