Analysts Predict Swelling of DRM Use

An analyst firm reports that, by 2006, about 20 percent of the top 2,000 global organizations will use digital rights management to protect content.

By 2006, about 20 percent of the top 2,000 global organizations will use digital rights management to protect content, an analyst firm said Wednesday.

About 2 percent of so-called "Global 2000" companies currently use DRM to protect their content, mainly media and music companies, the META Group Inc. said in a report issued Wednesday. DRM tools, which are marketed by companies such as Macrovision Corp., have been used by companies such as Symantec Corp., Intuit Inc. and Macromedia Inc. to protect the companies respective content.

That penetration is expected to grow as more companies realize the value of the technology to protect intellectual property, the report said. Microsoft, for example, will make DRM the linchpin of its Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, or "Palladium," and has reportedly adopted a new DRM solution in advance of the companys launch of its music store later this year.

"More organizations need to realize that DRM solutions have the potential over the next three to five years to aid compliance with maturing privacy legislation—for example, implementing the role-based access that HIPAA requires," META Group security analyst David Thompson said in a statement. "As this happens, DRM will emerge as an infrastructural element rather than a standalone technology solution."

Thompson could not be reached for additional comment.

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