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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/financialservices/0,3800010322,39339633,00.htm

Credit crunch could drive banks to SaaS security
Is boom time coming for the cloud?

By Nick Heath

Published: Monday 10 November 2008

The credit crunch could drive banks and businesses to get their security from the cloud.

silicon.com Financial Services

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Investment bank Rothschild uses software-as-a-service (SaaS) company ScanSafe for its web browsing security and MessageLabs for its email.

Web and email traffic for about 2,500 bank staff worldwide is sent through the companies' data centres, where it is screened and filtered for malware and viruses before being sent on to Rothschild's computer systems.

And Edmund Comber, manager of IT security and technical development at investment bank Rothschild, told silicon.com that economic uncertainty means businesses may favour the predictable pricing model of SaaS compared to the unpredictable cost of running security systems entirely in-house.

"For many companies it makes sense to push more business towards the SaaS model, where the service provided is not core to the business.

"You know the cost is x amount regardless and you do not have to buy any hardware that will need continual patching and maintenance.[Saas vendors] can do it better and more efficiently, they have the expertise," he said.