US Managed Security Market Growing 17% Annually

The U.S. managed security services market will grow to $2.8 billion by 2012, up from $1.3 billion in 2007, predicts International Data Corp. That's a healthy 17.2% compound annual growth rate. It's good to see the market growing, But I'm always a little skeptical of such forecasts. Here's why.

Much of the new revenue will go to carrier-class managed service providers that secure Global 2000 companies. Plus, 89.5 percent of MSPs already offer some sort of managed security services, according to our original MSPmentor 100 report. (You can participate in this year's MSPmentor 100 survey right here.)

Despite the flood of MSPs focused on managed security, I still think there's room to compete and innovate. All small businesses require spam filtering, patch management, endpoint security and other basic security capabilities. But other types of security -- such as video surveillance -- are emerging.

Also, keep in mind that MSPs will need to secure new types of devices -- from smart phones to emerging Netbooks to thin clients.