MSPs Must Adapt to Virtualization, BYOD and Cloud Computing to Stay Competitive in Security Services

Grazed from MSPNews. Author: Laura Stotler.

Virtualization, the growing prominence of "bring your own device" in the workplace, the push to move applications to the cloud and the growing presence of big data all present unique challenges for today’s managed service providers (MSP). In the face of these changes in technology, end devices and the way services are delivered, perhaps the most important solution MSPs can offer their customers is solid security services.

And yet delivering security in a changing marketplace isn’t as simple as offering firewall management – not in a world in which data centers are migrating throughout the globe, mobile devices are multiplying faster than hardware can be manufactured and users are demanding more and more from their service providers…

In order to be competitive and survive in today’s MSP landscape, providers need to provide security assurance – from endpoints all the way to the heart of the data center.

Infonetics Research forecasts the cloud and CPE managed security services market to grow from $11.7 billion in 2011 to just under $18 billion by 2016. That growth will be largely driven by the fact that existing solutions are simply not offering enough security for customers.

Many enterprises also lack the manpower to upgrade security technology themselves, and are also in the process of moving users, applications and data to the cloud and need comprehensive managed security services that will migrate along with them.

According to Stephan Tallent, director of MSSP Americas for Fortinet Inc., MSPs must stay competitive in the ever-changing world of virtualization. Fortinet provides network security appliances as well as unified threat management (UTM) products to MSPs, enterprises and government entities throughout the world.

The company stays in step with its MSP partners through the FortiPartner Program, designed to offer the resources service providers need to grow their business, develop expertise, increase customer satisfaction and achieve maximum profitability.

In order to stay competitive, MSPs must "adapt to the security environment and continue to solve customer problems with new technology," said Tallent. "Join this with service automation and virtualization of security to maximize ROI and increase margins."

Fortinet enables thousands of MSPs with technology, training and the FortiPartner Program to help them succeed in a competitive marketplace.

Tallent added that, "By placing a broad suite of adaptive security controls in the hands of a well-trained channel of MSP partners that maintain a vigilant watch over the networks that drive our economy," Fortinet is able to ensure security for its customers.

To tackle the every changing cloud computing movement, Fortinet makes virtual decisions for all of their security appliances, enabling their MSP and other customers to use their solutions to secure cloud environments.

This is achieved by mounting virtual Fortinet appliances on top of server clusters, as well as in front of key assets in the data center to enable strong asset control.

"We empower our MSSP partners to secure the multi-tenant cloud environments for business computing by layering virtualized security services in the data center with controls to meet the stringent security requirements," he said.

Not every MSP goes the extra mile to offer the breadth of security services available on the hardware used, said Tallent, and that is perhaps one of the largest misconceptions surrounding security provided by MSPs.

"Not all MSPs offer the full breadth of the security capabilities available on the hardware," he added. "Subscription and support requirements for the controls dictate whether these additional services are enabled."

Offering the full breadth of security services demanded by customers is often a huge challenge for MSPs, especially when customers demand more security controls, reporting functionality and "co-administration."

Many providers find it challenging to support advanced security controls in a cost effective manner.

Those MSPs that are successful in meeting customer needs are "adapting to these changing requirements by supporting the migration with virtualization expertise, data center security and network services," said Tallent. "They are enabling convergence with high speed security edge equipment, IP telephony solutions and QoS-enabled networks. They are helping piece together the security issues associated to different mobile devices and applications they connect to."