Security software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Webroot is partnering with hosted desktop provider Nasstar to provide online email and web protection for users.

Nasstar customers will have access to Webroot's Web Security SaaS and Email Security SaaS including the company's Email Encryption Service.

Unlike traditional on-premise computing, Nasstar's cloud-based service allows users to access their desktop, applications and data from any PC as a hosted system, rather than everything being stored locally.

Charles Black, founder and chief executive of Nasstar, hopes that the deal will help bolster the company's hosted desktop and Exchange services.

"Webroot's range of quality solutions, and its unprecedented pedigree within the SaaS security space, enables us to continue to deliver a world-class cloud-based service to our clients," he said.

Recent research by Gartner suggests that the hosted desktop market will be worth $65bn (£39bn) by 2013, up from just $1.5bn (£916m) in 2009. The analyst firm also believes that nearly 40 per cent of all desktops will be delivered virtually within the same period.

"We are delighted that Nasstar has chosen to partner with Webroot," said Ian Moyse, channel director for EMEA at Webroot.

"In our experience, we have found that our full range of email and web-based SaaS security services, our advanced technical support and the commercial benefits of working with a global vendor such as Webroot, are of paramount importance to our partners' establishment of a strong foothold in the SaaS market."

Moyse explained that email filtering will be included as a default component of Nasstar's Exchange service, while its other products, including archiving and web protection, will be offered as integrated components.