Analyst: Security-as-a-Service is the trend
Global security software sales amounted to about $16.5 billion in 2010. According to Gartner, security-related expenditure rose by 12 per cent compared to 2009. However, 2009, the year of crisis, had been a relatively weak year due to the slow economy and many businesses' reluctance to invest in IT. In 2008, Gartner had reported an increase in revenue of almost 19 per cent. While demand at that time was highest for security appliances, Ruggero Contu, research analyst at Gartner, says that the focus is now shifting to SaaS-based security software.
This trend towards new technologies is reportedly creating opportunities for numerous newcomers in the security industry which, Contu says, is also indicated by the major vendors only achieving below average growth last year. Nevertheless, the top 5 security companies apparently covered about 45 per cent of the entire market. Symantec defended its top position with an increase of almost 6 per cent, followed by McAfee with an increase of 7.3 per cent; behind these two companies were Trend Micro, IBM, and EMC (RSA). Among these five, only EMC stood out with a growth that was well above average at 25.6 per cent. RSA recently made the news when hackers stole important information about the SecurID two-factor authentication system from the company; as a consequence, RSA has created a new Chief Security Officer position.
Top 5 Security software manufacturers worldwide 2010 (sales in millions of US dollars) | |||||
Company | Sales 2010 | Marketshare 2010 | Sales 2009 | Marketshare 2009 | Change 2010 to 2009 |
Symantec | 3121.6 | 18.9% | 2949.5 | 20.0% | 5.8% |
McAfee | 1711.8 | 10.4% | 1595.6 | 10.8% | 7.3% |
Trend Micro | 1036.9 | 6.3% | 981.4 | 6.7% | 5.7% |
IBM | 814.7 | 4.9% | 759.6 | 5.2% | 7.3% |
EMC/RSA | 626.6 | 3.8% | 498.8 | 3.4% | 25.6% |
Others | 9188.8 | 55.7% | 7928.6 | 53.9% | 15.9% |
Total Market | 16500.4 | 100% | 14713.5 | 100% | 12.0% |
Source: Gartner |
See also:
- Gartner Says Security Software Market Grew 12 Percent in 2010, Gartner press release.
(sno)