The time of standalone security solutions is nearing its end, Art Coviello, CEO, RSA Security, said in a keynote address at RSA Conference 2007 today.
Calling on the industry to quickly place more emphasis on creating defense-in-depth solutions through partnership, Coviello said he could not have predicted he’d be saying this six or seven years ago.
"It will be the end of standalone security solutions in the next two or three years," he said. "I really believe that. Wth the exception of some start-ups, there will be no more standalone solutions in the next three years."
Coviello explained that risk-based, data-centric solutions will continue to gain prominence because of enormous amounts of digital data being created — as well as the shift of hackers from boasting pests to profit-driven players in criminal enterprises.
After his presentation, Coviello spoke on stage for a question-and-answer session with David Kilpatrick, senior editor and technology editor for Fortune magazine and Joe Tucci, EMC chairman, president and CEO.
"It seems convenient that you’re talking about the importance of securing information when you’ve just been acquired by EMC," Kilpatrick said to Coviello.
Tucci said his company’s acquisition of RSA last year was driven by customer demand.
"Our customers wanted to protect their information while they’re storing it," he said. "[The acquisition] was born out of customer demand."
Coviello, who followed a speech by Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer for Microsoft, praised Gates at the beginning of his own presentation.
"We’re pleased to see him go out in such a way where there is so much security built into Vista," he said.
