Gartner: Security software market is poised for 11% growth in 2010

According to href="http://dqchannels.ciol.com/content/IndustryFacts/110073101.asp">Gartner,
worldwide
security software revenue is forecasted to surpass $16.5
billion in 2010, which is 11.3 percent increase from 2009 revenue of
$14.8 billion. Though economic downturn slowed security revenue to
seven percent growth in 2009, organizations have indicated an
intention to give priority to security budgets. Analysts will be
discussing major trends in application and data security in Gartner
Security and Risk Management Summit 2010, which will be held on
September 22-23 in London.

"Most segments of
security software market will continue to grow over the next few
years, although a significant degree of variation is expected between
more-established and less-mature technologies," said Ruggero
Contu, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner. "Overall, security
will remain one of the fastest-growing areas within the enterprise
software market" he added. "Security software
vendors that have a balanced mix of channel, new license and
maintenance revenue streams and flexibility in contractual terms,
such as SaaS, open source and outsourcing, have the strongest options
for continued growth and to even out the risk," said Contu.
"Shrinking discretionary spending budgets have heightened
competition for new maintenance and license revenue streams and
placed a renewed emphasis on vendor performance and viability."

The consumer security
software market remains the largest security software segment, with
current year revenue projected to reach $4.2 billion from $3.9
billion in the previous year. The endpoint protection platform
(enterprise) market is the number two security software segment, with
revenue on pace to reach $3 billion in 2010 from $2.9 billion in
2009. This market continues to
benefit from prioritization and demands related to compliance
requirements, as well as the need to keep up with ever-increasing
sophistication and volume in the threat landscape.

“During the next six to
12 months, products delivered as SaaS and appliances will continue
overtaking traditional software licensing as the preferred purchasing
methods,” said Matthew Cheung, Senior Research Analyst at Gartner.
“Delivery as a suite in sub segments such as enterprise endpoint
security, identity and access management (IAM), and Web security will
be the most prevalent product delivery types. Despite major vendors
seeking to consolidate, opportunities exist for smaller niche players
and product specialization, and local expertise is expected to remain
a valued factor.”

Compliance remains an
important driver across many segments, particularly user
provisioning, security information and event management (SIEM) and
mobile data protection. "The growing
sophistication of the threat landscape-with malware composed of
multiple components that can be installed after the initial infection
and the exploits of socially engineered trojans, which trick
end-users into downloading and executing malicious files-will push
organizations and consumers to invest in endpoint security products
in the coming years," Cheung added. IAM is a critical
component of enterprises' security strategies. Gartner's clients
indicate that about eight percent of their security budgets are
currently dedicated to IAM. This area is composed of technologies
with varying levels of maturity and adoption. Overall, the IAM market
is estimated to grow to more than $12 billion by 2014.