Symantec Faces Increased Competition from India's Sify

Symantec (SYMC) recently delivered strong quarterly results, amid fierce competition from Microsoft (MSFT), McAfee (MFE) and other US companies. But throughout this year, Symantec will face new competition from abroad.

So-called managed service providers [MSPs] across India and Asia are launching remote security services for their customers. These efforts threaten Symantec's managed security and software-as-a-service [SaaS] initiatives.

A case in point: Sify Technologies Ltd. (SIFY) of India is launching managed security services that have global reach.

Sify isn't a global power. At least not yet. The company's most recently quarterly revenue topped [US] $38 million, up 8.7 percent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2006. In a release, the company said it continued to strengthen its position with banking, financial services and insurance customers.

Next up, Sify is launching "end-to-end" managed security services from its security operations center in Bangalore. The company plans to offer global customers 24x7 monitoring, security event correlation, vulnerability protection, compliance monitoring and forensics services.

For Symantec, the time is now to very aggressively launch and promote the Symantec Protection Network [SPN]. Under development since last year, SPN will initially support managed storage services. Managed security services will follow soon, however.

I expect SPN to go live with Symantec Partners and customers in the next few weeks. Symantec had hoped to launch it in January. Symantec will position SPN for small and midsize businesses, and will promote SPN through its partners.

Symantec's timing is critical. The managed security market is getting crowded. Nearly 90 percent of service providers now offer some form of managed security, according to the MSPmentor 100 research report.

Move fast, Symantec. Competitors -- some known, some still in stealth mode -- from across the globe are pushing into managed security and software as a service. SPN and your other managed service offerings are the key to continued success.

Disclosure: None