The ASP concept is also a neat and smart way to put the pirates out of action

Vishwajeet Deshmukh

Managed network services in India is picking up in a big way, with a majority of Indian corporates outsourcing their requirements for managing their networks. Security, a segment previously considered taboo for outsourcing is also being gradually outsourced to specialist managed service providers. Network Associates, a well known player in the security space plans to tap this segment in the Indian market through its latest offering, McAfee ASaP.

Through this initiative, the company will offer remote Web-based managed services to ensure security of enterprise networks in the areas of anti-virus, firewall, VPN capabilities and vulnerability assessment.

Says Vishwajeet Deshmukh, country head (India), Network Associates, “Unlike business applications where updates are infrequent, security software requires updates every day or even every hour. Just managing and updating security policies and applications can account for more than the total cost of ownership of the software itself. This is where we feel our ASaP concept will play a key role. It not only reduces the total cost of ownership, but also protects the enterprise in a pro-active way through the ASP model. The ASP concept is also a neat and smart way to put the pirates out of action.”

Along with basic anti-virus solutions, the company will also provide services like online vulnerability assessment. The service will be based on Network Associates’ solution called CyberCop Scanner. Through this solution, Network Associates can not only remotely evaluate the security needs of any organisation, but also examine servers, firewalls, switches and routers for vulnerabilities.

While security solutions are provided by a host of organisations, Network Associates seems to have been able to score over its competitors due to its technology called Rumor. Traditionally, whenever users are affected by viruses, anti-virus companies develop antidotes and then distribute the updated signature file to their clients who then update their internal servers and the thousands of workstations they service. And till the time the virus is removed, it keeps on replicating itself and spreads all over the network. This is where Rumor differs from the rest. Rumor uses a unique peer-to-peer distribution model instead of the traditional bandwidth hogging client-server model of centralised update distribution. For example, when the first workstation in a network logs onto the Net, the Rumor anti-virus agent first verifies whether the workstation is running the latest version. If it is not, the server sends the upgrade. Thus, even if one desktop downloads the upgrade, it becomes the distribution agent and distributes the patch to others on the network. Hence, if the updating file is found on the local network, it will be pulled from the LAN rather than from the anti-virus vendor’s site, thereby decreasing the load on external bandwidth.

To spread the concept of ASaP, Network Associates will adopt the partnership route aggressively and look for possible tie-ups with players like ISPs, ASPs and data centre players who can then offer the same to their end customers. Though the ASP model is still very nascent in the country, Deshmukh is extremely bullish on the concept and expects around 30 percent of business to come from this model in the first year itself.