Gartner predicts growth in the worldwide security software markets

New Delhi: Gartner anticipates that the worldwide security software market will touch a total of $14.5 billion. This would amount to a total of eight percent increase this year. In 2008, a hike of 19 percent was seen. For 2010 Gartner predicted that the market will grow further and ensure a 13 percent increase, as revenue is expected to total around $16.3 billion. In Europe itself, the security software market will total $3.2 billion in 2009. This represents a seven percent growth since last year.

“Although the worldwide security software market is affected by the economic downturn, the growth will continue to be strong in 2009 as security remains a critical area where drastic cuts cannot be afforded,” said Ruggero Contu, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner. He further said, “In the medium term, the greatest growth opportunities will come from software as a service (SaaS), appliance based offering and small and medium businesses (SMBs), which are in security catch-up mode compared with large companies and therefore spend a higher percentage of their budgets on security.”

In 2009, consumer security is expected to remain the largest segment (in terms of total software revenue) in the security software market, representing 25 percent of the total market. Gartner estimates it will account for $3.6 billion, growing four percent in 2009. The enterprise security software market is formed by various components put together. These include a number of segments such as endpoint protection platform, email security boundary and user provisioning. It has been predicted yet again by Gartner that it will account for a revenue of $10.9 billion.

“The security software market in 2008 was characterized by a high level of consolidation with Mc Afee purchasing secure computing, Symantec and Sophos acquiring MessageLabs and Ultimaco respectively. This is a sector where further consolidation is expected in the near future,” said Contu. “End-users are gradually moving to better-integrated multi-products. Particularly they are moving to areas such as endpoint security and identity and access management. Vendors offering good integration in an already established and trusted technology partnership will be best-placed for success. This is because buyers prefer to deal with two or more vendors that already trust each other's software and practices,” he concluded.