Perimeter Internetworking today announced it has acquired Red Cliff Solutions, to add anti-phishing capabilities to its managed security offerings.

Red Cliff also adds a strong base of credit union customers to Perimeter’s base of customers, which include financial institutions and other enterprises, as well as service providers that sell the service to their customers. Red Cliff’s anti-phishing product, CounterPhish, will be added to Perimeter’s portfolio of security services, which already includes firewall protection, anti-spyware and anti-virus protection, all of which is provided as a managed service, with automatic updates.

One such service provider, NuVox, is already using Perimeter’s existing products to differentiate its services and enable its small to mid-sized business customers to obtain greater protection with less hassle at no greater expense than what they currently pay for anti-virus service, said Clark Easterling--director of product management at NuVox.

“There aren’t too many customers who don’t use desktop anti-virus software, so this is not a new expenditure for them,” he said. “The question is whether they want to buy the disks and do all the installation, and then constantly manage upgrades.”

Many small to mid-sized businesses are aware of security threats, particularly as a greater portion of the work force is mobile, Easterling said, but may not have the manpower or time to constantly monitor individual computers. The service NuVox can provide using Perimeter’s managed security suite automatically updates individual computers when they are connected to the network, and provides an overview of security issues.

”If there’s one computer that’s constantly being affected by viruses or a laptop that’s not being connected to the network, where we can provide security, that is identified for the customer,” he said. “They get a global view from one console.”

Perimeter invests in the equipment needed to provide the service as a network option and manages it for NuVox as well, said Brad Miller, Perimeter CEO. By reducing capex, the “in the cloud” service approach enables service providers to quickly offer security services that differentiate them in a competitive market and deliver real value to their customers.

Each business client gets access to a portal, which Perimeter manages for its CLEC customer.

“We offer branding of the portal to the service provider customer, so from the end-user standpoint, we are invisible,” Miller said.

Perimeter’s greatest point of differentiation is the breadth of security services it offers, now made greater by the addition of Red Cliff to combat the growing threat of phishing--the process of sending bogus emails made to appear as if they come from a financial institution or e-commerce company in the hopes of luring consumers into providing credit card or account numbers.

From NuVox’s standpoint, adding a managed security service has enabled them to reduce churn and attract new customers, Easterling said.

“Our churn rate is down 80% among customers who use the security service,” he said. “This gives us a chance to increase our share of the customers’ revenue dollars. Plus we are providing real value--most of them don’t even know they can afford this kind of service.”

In addition, Easterling said, NuVox can better aid customers who have been hit with viruses and complain when their access service seems slow.