As an outsource security partner BAI provides managed security, managed firewall, managed ids, content filtering, internet security, network security, penetration testing, and vulnerability testing.

Security is the top investment organizations plan to make this year in managed services, with storage, backup and disaster recovery coming in second place, according to survey results released this month by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

"Security is at the top of everybody's agenda these days," partly because of financial reporting requirements set by the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, said Steven Ostrowski, a CompTIA spokesman.

One-third of 322 organizations surveyed said they plan to make new investments or increase spending on managed security services this year, according to CompTIA. All of the organizations surveyed were already users of managed services. The top five investments they plan, in order, are security; storage, backup and disaster recovery; Web or e-mail hosting; network monitoring and administration; and application subscription (such as software as a service).

CompTIA defines managed services as the "ongoing management, monitoring and maintenance of networks, software, hardware and related IT services by an external organization."

Ostrowski said managed services is akin to outsourcing, but that CompTIA doesn't like to use that term because companies don't necessarily get rid of jobs in their IT department when they use managed services. The service method allows companies to focus on core competencies and avoid working on tasks for which they lack the expertise.

Web and e-mail hosting is among the top uses of managed services because "those are [among] the things that are easily done by a third party," Ostrowski said.

Thirty percent of companies surveyed said they choose managed services because certain IT functions are less expensive would then be handled by outside experts.  It’s clear that Managed Security services often offer a superior level of protection that meet regulatory requirements at a lower cost than in house solutions.