Security technologies delivered via the SaaS (software-as-a-service) business model may still be in their nascent stage, but some early adopters are already piecing together multiple offerings to outsource a significant portion of their IT systems defense infrastructure. One such company is Imperial Chemical Industries, the massive London-based maker of paints and chemicals that is in the process of being acquired by industrial conglomerate Akzo Nobel to the tune of $16 billion. With worldwide business operations and an annual research and development budget approaching $60 million, the chemicals giant is spending more effort than ever before in securing its assets and data, company officials said. However, utilizing a handful of SaaS applications — including vulnerability scanning tools offered by Qualys, e-mail and anti-spam filtering from MessageLabs, and Web filtering provided by ScanSafe — IT executives at ICI claim they are maximizing personnel and budget in a manner that traditional on-premise security products wouldn’t allow. With five years of security SaaS experience under its belt, ICI is beginning to see the long-term promise of the services offerings, according to the executive.But the company is also cognizant that despite the benefits of moving to SaaS services, some elements of its network and data security must always remain on-site.