Security Lockdown!

If you believe security specialist RSA Security, identity management is a hot area in the security market that the channel should consider.

The company market SecurID, an authentication product based on something you know (a PIN number) or something you have (an authenticator) providing a better level of user authentication than passwords.

Chris Wood, channel director at RSA Security, says the identity management market is one that is potentially very profitable for channel partners due to the fact that it involves a great deal of services-related work.

'For every dollar spent on software, three to five dollars needs to be spent on services. That kind of opportunity is interesting and exciting for partners,' he says.

In the MSSP market, the services portion is quite high because it's about how businesses manage their internal processes and it's not about just banging in a VPN,' he says.

Symantec's Blackman adds that identity management has been 'coming for so long' and it's difficult to find one vendor that can do it all.' Still, this market presents a great opportunity for the system integration channel, he says.

A shortage of competent security professionals is also creating a problem for IT departments and channel partners alike, says RSA's Wood.

'There are a finite number of security specialists out there which is a problem for the channel and customers,' he says, but this trend is also naturally driving people towards the MSSP model. 'MSSPs are playing a key role,' he says, adding that it makes more sense for a third party to take control of a company's entire security infrastructure. 'Everyone wants to become a provider of these services and on paper it makes sense but in reality it's difficult.'

There are a few reasons why. Firstly, because putting in an MSSP practice can involve high setup costs although the payback is quite substantial.

'It can payoff but it's all about credibility because you're becoming a trusted partner. You're a trusted advisor and that kind of loyalty is immense. 80 percent of our customers renew through the same partner year-on-year,' Wood says.

SecureTel's Steven adds that it's a difficult sell for a reseller that doesn't have a trusted position within a firm. 'Anyone can sell a Netscreen firewall – selling a managed service is like selling thin air and the channel will struggle with it,' he says. Vendors were as much at fault as resellers, as vendors are unit-driven, he says. 'We bought the first and second Netscreen 500s in this country and haven't bought any since,' he says.

Whether or not a reseller is successful in the MSSP market depends on how they want to skew their business. 'If they want to become an MSSP, they've got to originate the service.' Otherwise, they should partner up and resell the services of a wholesale provider. SecureTel wholesale its services to companies such as reseller Harris Technology which makes a good margin stream from the arrangement, he says. 'There's more margin involved available in becoming a provider of the service but there's also a much higher cost to entry,' he says.

Firewall's Verykios claims the trend towards the MSSP model means big money for the resellers that are partnering with other channel partners. 'Who's the best person that can provide that service? The person that's already selling them the networks and the application and they don't have to do anything to it except people that are providing the managed services.

'A lot of resellers have gone down the path of providing the managed services in the past – tell me one security reseller that's still around today. We're working with the IP of the vendor and also relaying services that they want to do, borrowing parts of theirs and keeping relatively vendor-independent,' he says.

Stevens believes that the channel is 'fixated' on border security – firewalls and intrusion prevention – and many of the higher level security contracts that are tied to business processes are going to the big guys, the likes of EDS and Accenture. The channel shines selling packaged solutions that can be sold to the masses, he says.