A software as a service (SAAS) company specializing in security monitoring and management launched a self-service portal Tuesday that allows companies to purchase protection from a menu of services online.

Everdream Corp.'s services range from asset management and software distribution, to patch management, virus protection and online backup. The service aims to give IT administrators an easy way to try before they buy and deploy services.

The company wants to change the way IT administrators traditionally acquire and manage desktops. It offers a 30-day free trial of Asset Discovery, a service that enables IT administrators to locate IP-based connected network devices to generate a management report.

IT manager Joseph Sugayan at Private Eyes Inc., a 55-employee company that conducts pre-employment screening and background checks, signed up to test the service and site in May to manage the company's 78 PCs. "We installed Everdream's software agent on all our workstations, and I can log onto their Web site and pick the services I need for each PC," he said. "It updates all the machines with security protection from a point-and-click menu, and then compiles information into one report."

That "point-and-click menu" also works for companies that garner more than $1 million in annual revenue and have thousands of employees, said Josh Greenbaum, analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting. "This self-service portal lets large company make security services part of the package they give franchise owners," he said. "It also helps the large company to make sure their brand is protected."

Rivals, such as Bit9 Inc., offers desktop security software and reporting capabilities through software agents on user's desktops, servers and laptops, but they don't offer a portal where companies can choose from a menu service, said George Kassabgi, president and CEO. Bit9 aggregates information for customers and allows them to customize reports internally on the state of their network and computers.

But Greenbaum see potential weaknesses in ordering security services through an SAAS model that companies need to take into consideration. "A server outage could affect a large number of companies," he said.

Similarly, Forrester Research Inc. analyst Michael Gain agrees that "it makes sense to buy the software as a service because it streamlines the process, but "when you offer a portal that means customers need to log onto a site to get and give information," which could make Everdream's customers a bit more vulnerable to hackers and attacks.

"There are things the services company can do to project their customers and make sure they are not being tricked into entering information into a spoofed site," Gain said, suggesting customers need to inquire with the vendor before they buy.