Another MSSP (Symantec) Joins the Identity World - Who's Next?

Last week, Frank Villavicencio (Identropy's EVP) blogged regarding the Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) market direction, and the potential for MSSPs to step in to fill the vaccuum of a trusted provider for clients in the delivery of IAM solutions.

In fact, in his conclusion, he predicted:

Over the next three years, IAM will shift from the traditional deployment model (buy, host, deploy and operate) to an IDaaS model, making the latter the default. IAM technology will be mainly designed to enable IDaaS deployment models, and customers will most likely procure IAM via their MISP [Managed Identity Service Provider] of choice.

It looks like his words are proving true sooner than later (although I'm not sure if the term MISP will catch on).  Yesterday, Symantec announced its plans to acquire of Verisign's authentication business for $1.28 billion.  Here's an interesting quote from Symantec CEO, Enrique Salem:

"With the combined products and reach from Symantec and VeriSign, we are poised to drive the adoption of identity security as the means to provide simple and secure access to anything from anywhere, to prevent identity fraud and to make online experiences more user-friendly and hassle-free."

OK...so not exactly IDaaS in its full glory, but definitely a step in that direction.  Although MSSPs like Symantec love low-complexity technologies with predictable delivery models, they still seem to be gaining an appetite for some areas of identity - such as PKI, Federation, 2-Factor Authentication and Fraud Detection.  With Verizon, SecureWorks and Symantec in the game, I think its just a matter of time before they begin embracing other areas of the identity stack.