Date: 02/24/2010

This week's opening of a threat-analysis center in San Antonio is being touted as the latest example of the city becoming a cybersecurity hub.

Located in Accenture's San Antonio delivery center on Fairgrounds Parkway, the threat analysis center employs about 50 personnel who, among other things, work in software development and monitor clients' networks for attacks.

Accenture's decision to bring its threat analysis center here shows that San Antonio has become a hub for the cybersecurity industry, said Matt Pirko, a site manager for ManTech International Corp., a cybersecurity defense contractor, who has been part of San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce's efforts to make the city an attractive location for companies like Accenture.

“They are looking to us as the area to change their operations or expand their operations,” Pirko said.

Accenture senior director Lance Grether said part of the decision to open its threat analysis center in San Antonio is because as a destination for the U.S. Air Force's cyber command, also known as the 24th Air Force, the city has an available work force with the skills needed to work in the center.

“We believe San Antonio is going to be a center of gravity for security issues throughout the United States,” he said.

The San Antonio delivery center also has the necessary security clearances to serve government clients.

Local, state and national government entities make up the majority of the clients Accenture serves through its threat analysis center, but the center is equipped to handle commercial clients, Grether said.

The delivery center, where many of Accenture's management consulting, technology and outsourcing services are overseen, employs almost 500 people, said Grether.

“That's going to grow,” Grether said. “We're looking for 20, 25 percent growth this year. A good portion of that should come from the security area.”

The company has run cybersecurity operations out of the delivery center, but this is the first time those operations have been consolidated into one unit.

The need for cybersecurity has grown exponentially in the last decade, Grether said. To counter the increased attempts to disrupt operations or steal information from government and commercial entities, personnel at the threat analysis center not only monitor networks looking for security threats, but also analyze software looking for weak spots before they can be exploited.

“This is basically what we do to prevent attacks from occurring,” Grether said. “It's not reactionary.”