Worldwide Security Software Market to See 8% Increase in 2009

Gartner is predicting the worldwide market for security software will jump 8 percent over last year, despite the economic slowdown.

The analyst firm expects the market to total $14.5 billion in 2009. According to Gartner, roughly $6.5 billion of that amount will be in the United States, an 11 percent increase from 2008.

The projections, however, show a drop off from the increase the market saw between 2008 and 2007. In 2008, the worldwide security software market jumped 19 percent when compared to 2007. In the United States, the bump was 17 percent.

“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 at Gartner, in a statement. “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."

The consumer security segment is expected to total $3.6 billion, representing roughly 25 percent of the total market. The enterprise security software market - comprised of segments such as endpoint protection platforms, e-mail security boundary and user provisioning – is predicted to account for $10.9 billion in 2009.

“The security software market in 2008 was characterised by a high level of consolidation with the examples of McAfee purchasing Secure Computing, Symantec and Sophos acquiring MessageLabs and Utimaco, respectively,” Contu said, adding he expects further consolidation in the near future.

“End users are gradually moving to better-integrated multiproducts, particularly in areas such as endpoint security and identity and access management,” he said. “Vendors offering good integration in an already established and trusted technology partnership will be best-placed for success, as buyers prefer to deal with two or more vendors that already trust each other’s software and practices.”