THE managed security services market in Australia will expand at a compound annual growth rate of 20 per cent until at least 2013, according to new research from analyst group Frost & Sullivan.

The Asia Pacific Managed Security Services 2006-2013 found revenues in the Australian market were $240 million in 2006 and were forecast to grow to $880 million by the end of 2013.

While the managed security services (MSS) market was still in its early stages of growth in the region, Frost & Sullivan analyst Arun Chandrasekaran said the MSS model had started to gain wide acceptance, particularly in advanced countries like Australia, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The potentially enormous market in India had also showed promising growth on the back of ongoing liberalisation in the telecommunications sector.

“Additionally, there is a growing realisation that information security investments should no longer be viewed as IT investments but more strategically in the business risk context,” Mr Chandrasekaran said.

“Engaging with a strong MSSP allows organisations to share risk management and gain access to skilled resources for risk mitigation,” he said.

Mr. Chandrasekaran said globalisation and mobility, small and medium-sized businesses faced the same issues as larger enterprise – like fading security perimeters, complex converged networks and data security issues”.

“Hence the security requirements for SMB in Australia are not too different from the large enterprises. However, the awareness levels and willingness to pay still separate these two horizontal segments.”