August 6, 2007

Symantec Protection Network: Protection From the Cloud

If you have been safely using computers for over 5 or 10 years like I have, I'm sure you've come across the yellow 3.5" floppy disks containing Symantec's popular Norton Anti-Virus. These disks remind me of the formerly popular AOL diskettes that we used to make our kitchen tables more stable.

Symantec and other vendors have been keeping up with offering security solutions for businesses in the form of downloadable software. More recently these security vendors are offering solutions delivered as "software as a service".

In Symantec's case its called the Symantec Protection Network.

This service was launched in April 2007 with the first offering being an online backup service.

PC World writes that there's more on the way But following that, Symantec will introduce a variety of services that will give small businesses a way of doing things like filtering unsafe Web sites or e-mail messages, and even remotely accessing desktop PCs. "We're going to enter messaging, message hygiene, [and] remote client operation," he said.

Symantec, like Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., sees an opportunity to provide smaller companies with applications and IT services over the Web, Hughes said. "We see infrastructure as a big need for small-to-medium business."

It's not just the traditional security vendors, McAfee, Microsoft, Trend Micro and CA offering hosted security solutions (now or later) but Google has recently entered the fray as well with its purchase of email security firm Postini and web security company Green Border.

Your choices for securing your business are no longer expanding in HOW you have the solution delivered (software vs SaaS) but also from whom. Did you ever think that one day your security would come from Google?

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