Carriers tell IBM security matters

More than half of the top-tier carriers attending a recent carrier summit hosted by IBM Internet Security Systems said their security concerns are strong enough to impede their rollout of new IP-based services and the completion of their triple-play strategies for voice, video and data services.

Seventy-eight percent of the managers from approximately 60 carriers said security is vital to the long-term viability of voice-over-IP telephone service, and 30% said IPTV is not secure at all.

While carriers see the lack of security as both a hindrance to new services, 78% also see it as an opportunity to provide managed security services to enterprises with the same security concerns. However, 49% said they did not have the core competency to offer managed, or “in the cloud” services.

“There’s a nice opportunity there for companies like IBM ISS to help enable carriers meet those needs and deliver their own managed security services,” said Clarence Morey, director carrier strategy IBM Internet Security Systems. “A lot of enterprises are now looking to their carriers for managed security services.”

Morey added that now that these services are ready for the mass market from a quality and performance standpoint, security has become a gating concern.

IBM defines in-the-cloud security services as those that enable businesses to outsource their core security functions such as firewalls and intrusion prevention to carriers, rather than performing them in house. The difference between these and traditional managed services is that carriers would enlist the services of third parties such as IBM to manage part of the service.

Forty-one percent of carriers said in-the-cloud services will be a major revenue generator within three years. That half of them said they don’t have the means to provide such services at the moment is welcome news to IBM since it paid approximately $1.3 billion for ISS in October in order to shore up the necessary capabilities.

ISS got its start back in the early 1990s when a Georgia Tech research student developed software that NASA started using to discover vulnerabilities in its network.

Morey said one thing that has always been a strong card for the company is its tie to security research. The group within IBM ISS known as the X-Force is widely known within the industry and is credited with being one of the premier security research organizations, he said.

“A lot of companies talk about their R&D organizations, but what they are really talking about is their development organizations. We have that as well, but with X-Force we put the ‘R’ in R&D,” Morey said.