Applications

Alert Logic: Security is a Service

If adding security appliances is becoming a hassle, this company says it can add security to your network with a single box while hosting the app itself.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [December 6, 2006]

Founded in 2002, Houston, Tex.-based Alert Logic delivers security as a service (SaaS) platform. Chris Smith, Alert Logic vice president of worldwide marketing, describes it in a way calculated to inspire trust: "Our back end works a lot like Google. It's a hosted app on a server farm."

Asked whether the app could be deployed on an ISP's infrastructure, as larger companies are likely to demand, he acknowledges that the company is not ready to deploy it that way.

Instead, it's building the channel, looking for any company that supplies security advice and skill, including ISPs and also VARs, integrators, and consultants.

Smith says that the company's target market is the small business. He says that home users tend to have firewall and anti-virus software on their computers, and large enterprises have their own security staff and audit people. "We see a big appeal for hosted security in the mid market," he says.

Like Google's yellow boxes
The company deploys a single box at an ISP. The Alert Logic on site appliance, called the Invision Security Appliance, connects to the host system, which is managed at the company's security operations center (SOC). Because the service is managed by Alert Logic, Smith says ISPs need add no additional security personnel.

The application delivers unified threat management, blocking malware, detecting OS vulnerabilities, and, the company claims, reducing false positives.

Smith notes that because the system was built to be re-branded, ISPs can easily make it part of a bundle.

He adds that a key new announcement should be of interest to specific ISPs: the company released a special version of the product for ISPs serving apartment buildings. Its Multi-Tenant Edition (MTE) was announced on November 20, 2006.

Even though a box is delivered to the ISP, the product is sold on the SaaS pricing model, which is based on a monthly fee. The company expects ISPs to charge a monthly fee for the service and to pay for it through a revenue share.

— End

Ed. note: an updated Managed Security Service Provider Survey will be published later this month.