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With the acquisition of MessageLabs in 2008, a provider of online messaging and Web security services since 1999, Symantec began to offer hosted security services under the business division Symantec Hosted Services. Today, Symantec Hosted Services provides cloud-based security services comprising anti-spam, anti-virus and URL/content filtering.

While Symantec Hosted Services products targets at all industries, the company sees Asia "a top tier market." According to Nigel Mendonca (picture), regional director, Symantec Hosted Services Asia, "[W]e are very active in markets as diverse as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and India."

Being a 100% cloud-based business, cloud services represents 100% of Symantec Hosted Services' revenues, so is the business' R&D investments. "We don't expect that to change in 2011," said Mendonca, "However, we do plan to grow, aiming to reach annual revenues of US$1 billion within the next four years." Moving forward, the company has plans to continue to invest in "next-generation portals and architectures" to enable full integration across all its services and enable quick and seamless introduction of new services.

Symantec Hosted Services currently has 14 data centers worldwide, with four of them in Asia. According to Mendonca, Symantec Hosted Services is serving more than 11 million end users at 30,000 organizations spanning 100 countries.

Below is an excerpt of the interview between Symantec Hosted Services and Asia Cloud Forum. It outlines the company's key cloud solution offerings in 2010, its future investment plans for 2011, and the latest state of cloud-based security adoption in the region.

What were the three most important cloud services/ solution your company launched in 2010?

Mendonca: In 2010 Symantec Hosted Services launched a number of new offerings, including three key solutions aimed at protecting customers from new or emerging threats. 

One is Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection, which was launched in response to the increasing number of mobile workers with remote access to enterprise IT systems. Analysts have pointed out that if left unprotected, these end points represent a growing threat to businesses. Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection is a new cloud-based offering for small and medium sized organizations that wish to deploy comprehensive security for their computer systems without the need for additional hardware or management software. 

We also launched the first 100% cloud-based email archiving solution on the market. Offering "unlimited storage," Symantec Hosted Services' Hosted Email Archiving is designed to help businesses of any size address the massive increase in email data storage, which is complicated by ever more stringent compliance issues.

One of the hallmarks of 2010 was the convergence of Internet threats -- with scammers using combinations of email, Internet messaging and Web pages to attack individuals and businesses. During 2010 Symantec Hosted Services rolled out an enhanced cloud-based Web Security offering designed to provide protection for remote or roaming users.

By what percentage has cloud computing/ cloud services contributed to the overall revenue in 2010? Do you expect any change in 2011?

Mendonca: This growth will come from a combination of organic and inorganic investments. During 2010 we acquired RuleSpace -- a provider of Internet categorization and filtering technology. We expect to develop new hosted and hybrid solutions leveraging our expertise in information security and storage. We will also continue to invest in next-generation portals and architectures to enable full integration across all our services and allow us to add new services quickly and seamlessly.