Leadership Quote by John W. Thompson

“Enormous” is doing the real work here: it’s not just a market-size adjective, it’s a claim on inevitability. John W. Thompson isn’t selling a product so much as narrating an industry shift, one where security stops being a discrete tool you buy and becomes an ongoing service you rent. Managed security services are framed as the natural endpoint of complexity: threats multiply, compliance tightens, talent is scarce, so the customer outsources the headache.

The most revealing move is the benchmarking. He doesn’t say “we’re the leader,” full stop; he says “outside of an IBM or EDS.” That caveat is a flex disguised as modesty. IBM and EDS (especially in that era) signal the old-guard titans of mega-outsourcing: sprawling contracts, enterprise bureaucracy, and boardroom credibility. By positioning his firm as the biggest “next” player, Thompson claims scale and seriousness without inviting a direct heavyweight comparison he can’t win. It’s competitive jujitsu: concede the top tier, dominate the tier that matters for growth.

“Active participant” also quietly telegraphs strategy. This isn’t accidental revenue; it’s an intentional bet that recurring, service-based relationships will outlast point-solution security vendors. The subtext is that security is becoming infrastructure, and infrastructure rewards incumbency, trust, and operational reach. Underneath the investor-friendly optimism sits a harder truth: in managed security, the moat isn’t innovation alone; it’s owning the customer’s ongoing dependence.