MSS is short for Managed Security Services and names the business market segment that provides, installs, monitors and operates IT security solutions (IT security) such as Firewalls, IPS, Gateways for e-mail or web access security that can be seen on Arcon’s portfolio.

Four types of businesses act in this segment. They are called MSSP (Managed Security Services Providers):

Pure Players: Companies whose invoicing comes integrally from services and products of security. They are specialists on the subject. If you look for advanced technologic solutions, open platforms, deep integration to security systems, flexibility, good cost benefit relation and high service level, you have to look for this kind of company. Arcon fits this category.

Telecommunication Companies: They originated the segment providing protection to the private connection and with the internet aggregated to the data communication services. They still represent good part of the world segment. If you look for simplified and patterned services – as long as they do not exceed the network border limit -, reasonable quality and low price this is a good option, especially for middle- or small-sized companies.

IT outsourcing generalists companies: Security systems are an additional item to your portfolio. Sometimes they incorporate this capacity through specialized players acquisitions or security products manufacturers that already work as service providers. The prices vary according to the capability of negotiation of the hired company as a whole. It is adequate to companies that have already hired IT full outsourcing services from an enabled supplier to provide this type of service and who are satisfied with the level of service delivered. The disadvantage is that you bet all your chips in the same provider.

Security products manufacturer: They are new to the segment. Companies that traditionally sell security products started, especially in the international market, business units to sell services. It can be an interesting option for specific cases, however they embed the risks of adopting a set of proprietary solutions tied to only one supplier.

The companies that act in this segment do not usually commercialize security products; they provide services in a monthly basis instead, that include not only use of the technology that would be acquired but also its installation and operation in a continuous basis with quality measure according to the level of the service. 
 

• The expected benefits when hiring an MSSP are: 

• Reduce the total costs of property of IT security systems.

• Reduce or eliminate capital investment in security solutions in exchange of operational costs with provided services.

• Reduce the term of implementation and/or adaptation of IT security systems.

• Service payment based upon the quality goal achievement.

• Increase the total level of IT security of the hirer by supplying:

- High availability infrastructure and tolerable to failures

- Teams with high level of capability and experience in 24/7 regime.

- IT management and security processes according to amply accepted normative patterns.

According to Gartner, in 2011, the companies that are leaders in applying information technology will have stopped immobilizing resources with equipments and software, once they will be acquiring more than 40% of its IT infrastructure as service (IaaS). The MSS segment, one of the ones that will grow the most within the years due to facts such as complexity and the cost of implementation of the security solutions, maturing and amplification of the MSSPs’ offers, security budget resilience and regulatory pressure under security requirements that reflects many of the market segments.

Our clients already live this reality. We identified these opportunities 4 years ago and migrated our portfolio of security product integration to the pure offer of security services according to the MSS model. To face these challenges in the sector, we invested in 2008 R$ 2,000,000 in updating and amplifying our infrastructure and will invest more R$ 10,000,000 in the amplification of portfolio in service providing support softwares.