IT always crows about the lack of security in the cloud, yet it is the same IT community that drove the market for cloud-based managed security services, along with customer premises equipment (CPE) services, to $13 billion last year.
This, according to Infonetics Research, sees managed services as an answer to increasing worries about security in the cloud. In some cases, a cloud service is managing cloud security.
The new report, Cloud and CPE Managed Security Services, finds that “buyers are moving to managed security services to deal with increased attack volume and complexity, manage security product sprawl, deliver consistent security for a distributed workforce and device population, and provide security for cloud infrastructure,” according to Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research.
That is driving market growth, which leaped forward 12 percent last year. Most of that money came from CPE-based services, but in four years that share will be less than half the total market as the cloud takes over.
Meanwhile, over the next five years, cloud-based security services will grow 69 percent, with hosted denial of service attack prevention services accounting for one fifth of this revenue.
Managed security vendors are picking up the pace. “Manufacturers and service providers are developing more mature offerings to build out and deliver managed security to customers, and the net result is the market continues to enjoy healthy overall growth, with particularly strong growth for cloud-based services,” Wilson said.
A Frosty View
Frost & Sullivan this February released a similar report, “Analysis of the Global Managed Security Market,” with very different results. This research house puts the entire market at some $66.5 billion last year, rising by 2021 to $139 billion.
These numbers, however, include physical security.
Frost & Sullivan’s analysis of the market is in line, however, with Infonetics. "In current times, many organizations remain highly cost-conscious, motivating them to outsource their security requirements and reduce operating costs," said Anthony Leather, Frost & Sullivan Aerospace, Defense & Security Research Analyst. "Even while security remains a priority for organizations, chief decision makers are looking to the industry to provide them with the most advanced security solutions at the most competitive prices."
The researchers believe outsourcing to a managed security service provider (MSSP) makes sense, as the number and sophistication of attacks keeps increasing. With an MSSP, the outside provider can handle increasing complex and layered security, while the client can focus on what is strategic to their business.
Edited by
Braden Becker
