MSSP and NAC - True Love

As a company with long-standing relationships in the Managed Security Services space, we've talked a good deal around here not only about how our own product can be leveraged in the MSSP space, but also the general pros and cons of having NAC as a managed service.  Our own VP of marketiing has an advertorial here.  Where I come down on this is that Managed NAC is a no-brainer for organizations that already subscribe to managed security services, and absolutely worth considering for organizations that leverage managed services for other parts of their IT business (Help Desk, WAN, Internet bandwidth, etc.).

Given both the technical and business problems that NAC solves, managed NAC is a natural extension to current managed security offerings, from the perspective of both the MSSP and the business organization.  It provides the MSSP the opportunity to bring governance "deeper" into their customers' networks rather than being limited to reacting in the perimeter; and it provides the customer the opportunity to leverage economies of scale and breadth of experience inherent in managed provider offerings.  Given the switching and desktop depth of most NAC solutions, managed NAC has synergy (Buzzword Bingo!) with managed LAN environments as well.

So, if you're currently with an MSSP who does not offer managed NAC, then you absolutely should ask them what their plans are for adding NAC to their portfolio, as well as what bundling options they're planning to offer their customers.  Regional MSSP's are moving rapidly in this space, and I think it's only a matter of time before the larger managed service players add NAC to their portfolio as well.