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US SMBs worry about network access and management: AMI

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW YORK: Are small and medium businesses (SMBs) big enough to warrant network management and network access controls? The answer is yes, at least in the United States.

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According to the latest study on US-based SMBs, by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc., at least half US-based SMBs have installed a local area network (LAN), with a growing percentage of being server-based LANs. Likewise, half of small businesses (SBs) and up to 85 percent of medium businesses (MBs) have mobile employees.

As a result, demand for virtual private networks (VPN) connections is growing rapidly. An increasing number of application types, from databases to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), are being placed on the network to connect more people, knowledge and ideas.

Other findings were: More than 66 percent of US SMBs use notebooks and a growing number use handheld devices purchased by the company. These do not include the number of unmanaged mobile devices that are also trying to connect to the office LAN from remote locations. And a majority of US SMBs have already deployed desktop security basics such as anti-virus and anti-spam applications.

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"The combination of these factors is putting a strain on the network from a security and manageability standpoint," says Melissa Chong, New York-based Analyst at AMI-Partners. "SMBs face increasing risk on their IT assets too. Controlling who can access the network, and whether the security patches on the devices are up to date are necessary evils of deploying a LAN. This is another challenge for already limited IT resources within SMBs."

AMI's research indicates that "protection from electronic threats" is the number one factor driving security spending. On top of this, "enhancing IT security and privacy" has remained one of the top-of-mind priorities over the past 2-3 years.

"There has been a lot of focus around network access control (NAC) in the enterprise area," Chong says. "SMBs are aware of the threats and the need for network security due to their own growing reliance on the network. They are looking for more advanced network security options. As a start, about one in three SMBs has deployment plans for intrusion detection/prevention solutions."

Further, SB environments and needs are changing rapidly, and they are increasingly mature in their selection and purchasing behavior. IT vendors, channels and even managed service providers should apply consultative-selling approach to address their concerns.

CIOL Bureau