Should you choose a strategic security vendor or shoot for best-in-breed?

I'm going to take a look at one more article in the Network World series on "Burning Security Questions". The topic, "Should you choose a strategic security vendor or shoot for best-in-breed?"

This has always been a difficult topic for the IT administrator who wants to buy the latest in technical gear, but finds that they work in a "xyz"-shop where "xyz" is on of the do-it-all vendors (like Cisco).

From the article:

A huge debate these days is whether to select a strategic security vendor to provide the majority of security products and services the enterprise might require, or opt to evaluate point products, including those from start-ups, with an eye toward best of breed. ...

The main reason is the strategic security vendor approach can help stretch a budget and gain the advantage of a common management platform, he says. ...

Gaby Dowling, manager of IT security at international law firm Proskauer Rose, believes it isn't logical to consider anything "strategic" if the vendor and the product can't rapidly adapt to a changing threatscape. "Just because different products come from the same vendor doesn't mean they integrate well in my experience," she adds.

While the article doesn't really answer the question, it does highlight a problem many IT administrators face when selecting technology products. While some will continue to get forced to choose the strategic vendor, others will continue to pick the best-of-breed solution. And then of course there's the rare occasion the best-of-breed solution comes from the strategic vendor.