Resellers predict growth in DLP market

Amrita Tejasvi

New Delhi

November 27th, 2007

With the unveiling of Symantec's acquisition of private firm Vontu, a
developer of data loss prevention (DLP) solution, Symantec is all geared up to
explore the market with its new solution. In India, Stellar and Unistal are
already offering DLP and software resellers are predicting that this acquisition
would help in driving the solution at an aggressive pace as it would affect the
marketshare of the existing companies and will spark competition from Symantec.

Speaking on the importance of DLP, Ajay Verma, Director-Channel and Alliance,
Veritas Software Solutions commented that Symantec is banking on the solution as
the vulnerability of loss or theft of data has been increasing and the risk in
the market is also on the rise. "With the battle against virus, the
vulnerability has changed and customers are always looking to get more
information. Through DLP mechanism, it would be able to scan the disk and
minimize the risk of data loss or theft," he commented.

Speaking further on the importance of the solution, Verma added that the risk
of data loss by the internal body of an organization is higher than by anybody
else outside and therefore it becomes very crucial to avoid any breach of
security and to control the flow of data that is accessible only to the
authorized people.

Till now, DLP solution in India has yet not taken off in an aggressive mode
and software resellers opined that with the entry of Symantec into the race, it
would compel vendors to create a market for it and develop awareness.

"I don't think that Symantec's acquisition of a DLP solution firm will
have an immediate effect on resellers because the market in India for this
solution is still unearthed. Vendors need to first develop the ecosystem so that
the importance of such a solution is understood. This move will probably help
DLP solution gain momentum in the market," shared Pratik Garg, MD,
Progressive Infotech.

Alok Gupta of Softmart Solutions added that the enterprise segment is still
lagging behind in adopting DLP as a solution and this acquisition would
encourage other players to sharpen their strategies.

In India, Symantec is targeting finance and telecom companies with the DLP
solution.

According to an IDC report, on global perspective, the market of DLP has
undergone significant consolidation in the past few years and it is estimated
that the company's expenditure on software to prevent common identity theft and
data loss will be more than by $3.2 billion by 2011.