by Brian Dunphy, Sr. Director Product Management, Managed Security Services Group, Symantec
Symantec’s position as one of the leading Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) was further affirmed recently when it was positioned by Gartner Inc. in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2012 Magic Quadrant for MSSPs North America report.
The Magic Quadrant report, which positions vendors based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision, identified major market trends that are impacting the overall MSSP market. Symantec Managed Security Services combine global threat intelligence, enterprise-wide monitoring, advanced analytics and expert staff to help IT organizations around the world respond to these trends by protecting them from known and emerging threats.
“The global economic environment continues to drive North American businesses to limit hiring and increase demand for managed services,” notes the Magic Quadrant report. “MSSs are mature, but buyers must carefully define the scope and depth of the services required, and assess the delivery capabilities and options available from providers. Enterprises that optimize their use of MSSPs can free up internal staff time to respond to more-business-critical security functions if they select MSSP services that can support and complement internal security operations.”
According to the report, drivers for MSS adoption in North America remain similar to prior years. “SMBs are primarily buying MSSs to meet compliance requirements, although threat management and improved security awareness are often secondary goals. Enterprises typically focus on threat management and adding access security expertise via MSSs. Drivers for buyers of all sizes include an inability to increase head count, greater acceptance of outsourcing IT activities, and the need to implement additional security technologies, controls or use cases, such as log collection, data security and virtual device security.”
Gartner expects strong growth for MSSs in North America to continue. MSSPs realized North American revenue of $2.7 billion in 2011, up from $2.3 billion in 2011. The report predicts MSS revenue will have grown to $3.0 billion in 2012. The report also states that the growth in enterprise demand for MSSs is driven primarily by five factors: 1) staffing and budget constraints, 2) evolving compliance reporting requirements, 3) expansion of Internet connection points, 4) increased availability and adoption of cloud-based IT services, and 5) SMBs having limited security resources.
Symantec MSS delivers 24x7 security monitoring and management services by expert security staff to organizations around the world. Symantec MSS takes a comprehensive, “edge-to-endpoint” monitoring approach to provide broad visibility of activity across an enterprise’s infrastructure, and leverages threat intelligence from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network and advanced correlation and analysis capabilities to deliver a prioritized list of actionable security incidents to enterprise security teams. By partnering with in-house staff and providing complimentary expertise, powerful analytics, and global threat visibility, Symantec MSS helps customers bolster defenses and respond rapidly to new threats as they emerge.
We believe our position as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant report for MSSPs is well deserved and confirms Symantec’s vision, focus and enduring commitment to stand as a partner and trusted advisor in reducing overall security risk for our customers. Not only is our current offering strong, but our long-term vision is clearly validated as well.
The full report is now available for external distribution on the Analyst Reports Page of Symantec.com.
About the Magic Quadrant
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