Financial Industry Security Threats Create Opportunities for Service Providers

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Service providers have an opportunity to reap benefits from the security issues that are prevalent in the financial services market, according to the latest report published by Heavy Reading IP Services Insider (www.heavyreading.com/entvoip), a subscription research service from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com).

Service Providers Hit Pay Dirt in Financial Services Sector examines security issues in the BFSI industry today, along with those that are expected in the next 24 months. The report examines the opportunities that service providers have in the market, including areas with the most growth potential for the next 24 months. It also examines challenges the industry presents, explores future trends that will shape this market, and offers a comparative analysis of available solutions from eight leading providers.

For a list of companies covered in this report, http://img.lightreading.com/evi/pdf/ipsi0411_companies.pdf

"Financial institutions are responding to the new pressure they face from regulators, while rebounding from the financial devastation in the housing and credit markets during the recession," says Denise Culver, research analyst with Heavy Reading IP Services Insider and author of the report. "While these factors have placed greater pressure on the BFSI industry to lower costs, make better use of resources and meet regulatory requirements, they have also created an opportunity for service providers, especially telcos and mobile network operators."

"Payment services providers have tremendous potential, since they offer new methods of payment across wireless devices and applications," Culver says. "As all these technologies become more prevalent, so too will the attacks against them from those trying to gain access to private information and unprotected funds," she notes. "As such, service providers have a tremendous opportunity to become the de facto providers of network services and security for this industry."

Key findings of Service Providers Hit Pay Dirt in Financial Services Sector include the following:

• The BFSI industry is leveraging new technologies to lower costs, improve customer service and follow regulatory requirements.
• Protecting sensitive data on employees' mobile devices is a major security issue for the BFSI industry.
• Malicious security attacks in the BFSI industry are expected to increase by almost 30 percent over the next two years.
• Managed services, such as VPN and compliance, are among the strongest growth areas for service providers in the financial services sector.
• Skepticism about the security of their networks is one of the main challenges that service providers must address in the BFSI industry.

Service Providers Hit Pay Dirt in Financial Services Sector is available as part of an annual subscription (six issues) to Heavy Reading IP Services Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900.

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/entvoip. For more information about other Heavy Reading Insider research services, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/research.

To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

Jeff Claudino
Director of Sales
Insider Research Services
619-229-9940
[email protected]

Press/analyst contact:
Jennifer Baker
Marketing Director, Light Reading Communications Network
617-871-1910
[email protected]

About Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com)

Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to carriers, service providers, and vendors. Our remit is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next-generation hardware and software. This information is compiled via exhaustive surveys of both vendors' products and service provider decision makers.

About Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com)

Founded in 2000, the Light Reading Communications Network is the world's leading research-led integrated media company serving the global communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technological and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, and TelcoTV Asia, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Europe, and The Tower Summit @ CTIA, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives in the US, Europe, India, and China. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

SOURCE Heavy Reading