After its largest appraisal to date of its security vendor ecosystem, BT Security named McAfee, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet as its key partners.
Those three security vendors were picked as BT Security's "Critical Partners" going forward to provide managed security services to its customers. BT Security cited the changing nature of the cybersecurity landscape and the number of cybersecurity suppliers in the market as key reasons for streamlining its security suppliers.
“Our new security partner ecosystem showcases the benefits of BT Security as a Managed Security Services Provider," said Kevin Brown, Managing Director of BT Security, in a statement. "We’re able to use our deep experience and insight of the security ecosystem to help our customers navigate what can be an incredibly confusing market. We’re also ensuring that BT Security customers will benefit from working with the best suppliers from across the security industry.”
While BT Security didn't mention the Covid-19 pandemic by name in Thursday's press release, it has changed the security perimeter from office space to "work from anywhere" security. In addition to more and different security threats, Covid-19 has also accelerated organization's digital transforms, so a cybersecurtity refresh is in order.
BT said McAfee, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet were selected as the top security providers for specific security requirements. BT Security named Microsoft, IBM and Cisco as "Strategic Partners" based on their relationships with BT Security and across all of BT. Cisco in particular has a wide-range of integrated security products and services across its portfolio, and has worked with BT in the past.
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In addition, BT confirmed nine "Ecosystem Partners" that will be incorporated across its global portfolio "due to their complementary capabilities." Those nine ecosystem partners are: Skybox, Forescout, Zscaler, Check Point, CrowdStrike, Okta, Qualys, Netscout, and F5 Networks.
Managed services security falls under the umbrella of BT's Global business unit. BT has been in the process of whittling down its Global division, which was called Global Services before a name change last year, in order to focus on higher margin access deals to support its large multi-national customers.
RELATED: BT strikes a deal to sell-off domestic operations in France to Computacenter
Among other deals, BT announced in July that it was selling its domestic operations, which includes the management and maintenance of IT and network infrastructure, as well as networking and related professional services, to Computacenter.