MSSPs: At your service

Outsourcing has become a fact of life and the market is still set to grow, regardless of occasional scare stories about data theft in Indian call centres. Expensive and time-consuming to do in-house, managed security services have long been on the list of responsibilities for which many organisations turn to external suppliers.

And as the number of threats companies face is rising, so is the number of people signing on with a managed security services provider(MSSP).

Gartner predicts compound annual growth of 14.9 per cent for the market, taking it from £422 million in 2004 to £860 million by 2009.

The boom in cyber crime and other threats on the internet, and the corresponding explosion in technologies to deal with them, have provided enough of an incentive for previously reluctant organisations to consider managed security, and for MSSPs to change the services they offer.

"A couple of years ago, the internet suddenly became full of rubbish," said Matt Darnell, IT manager at The Fabulous Bakin' Boys bakery in Witney. "Systems started grinding to a halt."

Faced with the increasing risks to his rapidly growing company, which relies increasingly on the web and email, without the budget, staff or time to cope with the situation in-house, he went to an MSSP. Darnell is now using intY's MailDefender managed service to rid the firm's emails of spam and viruses. He no longer has a spam problem and doesn't have to waste time on infected PCs.