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Security software market sees 7.5% growth
IT News |
30/04/2012
Worldwide security software revenue totalled $17.7 billion (£10.8 billion) last year, a 7.5 per cent increase on industry turnover in 2010, it has been reported.
Research conducted by IT analyst Gartner found that demand for enhanced security among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), advanced persistent threats and compliance were among the main drivers of industry growth.
"Growth in the 2011 security market reflects a continuation in demand for consumer and enterprise security tools," said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner.
"However, despite overall solid growth, some regions did not experience the high-double-digit growth of emerging Asia/Pacific and Eurasia, which has been driven by 'greenfield' projects and buoyant economies."
He noted that Western Europe "remained the laggard" because of the region's uncertain economic situation.
The firm said the security software market continued to show "resilience" at a time of IT budget restrictions.
Gartner said this was despite Intel writing down considerable revenue following its acquisition of McAfee, which prevented the market from reaching double-digit growth.
Symantec retained its market share lead in both the consumer and enterprise security space, recording an annual growth rate of 17 per cent.
McAfee was the next biggest player with a 6.9 per cent share, ahead of Trend Micro (6.8 per cent), IBM (5.3 per cent) and EMC (4.0 per cent).
Mr Contu said products within the security market are undergoing rapid evolution, in terms of both new delivery models and new technologies being introduced.
He noted that security-as-a-service is showing increasing popularity in particular, often driven by start-up companies.
"Key vendors continued to expand their product portfolios in 2011, buying companies where appropriate and expanding their reach into emerging markets," Mr Contu added.
"Merger-and-acquisition activity also has been an important factor in shaping the market landscape, at least during the past five years."
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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