Trend Micro outlines three-pronged SaaS security plan

Trend Micro has been giving details of a shift in its approach to the cloud security market over the coming sales cycle.

The company is now focusing its cloud security efforts in three main areas: traditional hosted services for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), hybrid systems of hosted and internal security layers for enterprises and its existing package for service providers.

“For years, we’ve tailored SaaS solutions to the needs of the channel and customers in two business segments – hosted solutions for small to medium businesses and cloud solutions for xSPs,” said John Maddison, senior vice president of SaaS for Trend Micro.

“Now, we’re gaining traction within the enterprise market and expanding our SaaS models to include hybrid solutions. We’re committed to growing our investment and expertise within SaaS security, hitting new markets with new solutions that meet the management, control and privacy needs of businesses and service providers all over the world.”

Hybrid systems use a mix of on-premise services for critical operations and outsourced security functions to hosted cloud services. Research this month by Infonetics showed that there was strong price-based demand for hybrid systems.

“We asked respondents a simple question: Do you believe that the cost (in time and resources) of deploying hybrid solutions for e-mail security could be significantly reduced if you purchased an integrated solution from a single vendor?”

“Eighty per cent of respondents said yes. Looking back at the question about how respondents currently manage hybrid solutions it’s easy to see why the cost savings could be significant,” said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst of network security at Infonetics.

Trend also announced an update to its hybrid email InterScan Messaging Security Virtual Appliance (IMSVA) security solution platform. Version eight of the software integrates with VMware Ready virtual appliances to filter email traffic and claims to block 90 per cent of incoming email before hitting the network.