Cloud-based security services will become mainstream within five years as providers iron out the wrinkles and customers become more comfortable with them, according to Gartner.
At the moment, though, these services are going through a period when they can’t possibly deliver on the unreasonable expectations most people have of them, according to Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Infrastructure Protection, 2009 report.
That’s because cloud security services are riding the high point of the hype cycle, which means their virtues are being overstated to the point that “ ‘in the cloud’ protection delivers more hype than protection in many, but not all, areas.”
Cloud security services include firewalls, IDS/IPS, anti-virus, DDoS protection, Web gateway security and messaging security. Gartner says potential customers should look to these services as a way to rid themselves of premises-based security gear. These come with the costs of management and hardware maintenance that with cloud security services is rolled into monthly bills. Customers should consider buying these services for small businesses and branch offices of larger businesses where there is likely to be no dedicated IT staff.
Cost savings is likely to be the enticement that will draw in smaller businesses, so providers have to deliver on that, Gartner says. They will also have to prove the services to be effective and that they will scale to larger deployments in order to overcome the hype.
So far, these service providers have signed up somewhere between 1% and 5% of the potential customers for their business, Gartner says, so anyone using them now is an early adopter. But if these providers can meet expectations, business should pick up steadily.
