Speedcast International is expanding its business into new markets, announcing the launch of a cybersecurity as a service platform aimed at helping protect customers from the growing cybersecurity risks.
The global satellite network and support infrastructure company joins a growing list of companies that are expanding into the Cybersecurity as a Service market, betting that their customers want to move more than just their data to the cloud. Speedcast is uniquely positioned to expand into cybersecurity given it builds communication systems for companies spanning the globe. With clients in the telecom, government, media and energy industries facing increasing risk from hackers and state-sponsored bad actors they need to beef up their cybersecurity. The launch of the new platform also comes at a time of heightened risk for all sorts of companies as hackers grow more sophisticated and foreign governments pick up the pace of their cyber warfare. One only needs to look to Russia and China for evidence of that.
With more awareness on the part of consumers and customers, these attacks are having a devastating impact on the corporate victims. The rapid increase in ransomware and malware across the world is also resulting in more cybersecurity regulations and requirements, boosting complexity and driving the interest in cloud platforms.
"Companies are undergoing digital transformation and implementing automation across all levels of their organizations," said Tim Bailey, Executive Vice President, Products, Marketing & Business Development at Speedcast in a press release announcing the service. "Our Cybersecurity as a Service solution provides advanced cybersecurity applications and best-in-class services, enabling our customers to proactively control cyber threats. This solution underscores our focus on extending our product portfolio to deliver applications and services that bring value to our customers." Speedcast’s entrance into cyber security as a service market dovetails with its summer acquisition of Globecomm Systems which it bought to gain access to the government, enterprise and maritime markets. Australian based Speedcast expects Globecomm to save it $15 million in annual operating costs in about a year-and-a-half.
Speedcast’s new platform combines a unified threat management systems with end-point protection, to ensure customers’ remote sites have enough security. That frees up staff to focus on supporting the core operations of the business. Speedcast says its Security Operations Center monitors the protection level of customers' sites, providing alerts and reports. It can be operated from remote sites or vessels and runs on Speedcast's integrated communication platforms SIGMA Gateway and SIGMA Gateway Xtreme.
