MDR is a service: managed detection and response, usually built around a specific tool and telemetry set, most often the endpoint. A SOC is an operations function: the team, platform, and process watching every telemetry source, correlating across them, and running the response. Every MDR has a SOC behind it somewhere. Not every SOC limits itself to what one tool sees.
enhanced.io is a channel-only Open XDR SOCaaS built exclusively for MSPs, with 400+ integrations across endpoint, network, cloud, identity and IoT/OT.
What MDR covers
An MDR provider monitors the telemetry from its own agent or platform, triages the alerts, and responds to endpoint threats. Scope is defined by the tool. If the attack shows up on the endpoint, MDR is designed to catch it. If it unfolds in identity, cloud, email, or on devices with no agent, it sits outside the contract.
What a SOC covers
A SOC as a service takes responsibility for the whole detection surface: endpoints, network traffic, cloud platforms, identity providers, email, and IoT/OT. The telemetry comes from the tools already deployed plus network sensors, and the SOC correlates all of it into cases a human team investigates and acts on around the clock.
Which one an MSP needs
It depends on what your clients expect you to answer for. If the commitment is endpoint protection, MDR fits. If the commitment is security outcomes, compliance evidence, and 24/7 response across the client's whole environment, the SOC model is the one built for it. Most MSPs discover the difference the first time a client asks a question their MDR telemetry cannot answer.
How they work together
They are not exclusive. A SOC ingests EDR and MDR outputs as telemetry and builds on them. Keeping an existing endpoint investment and adding the SOC layer above it is the standard path, not a rip and replace.
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