Security is expected to remain an IT budget priority in the coming years, according to a survey from technology analytics firm Gartner, with worldwide spending on security infrastructure to rise 8.4 percent to $60 billion in 2012. Despite a continuing economic slowdown that has been putting pressure on IT budgets around the world, the Gartner report projected security spending would continue on an upward trajectory, reaching $86 billion in 2016.
The fastest-growing segments in security infrastructure, which Gartner terms the software, services and network security appliances used to secure enterprise and consumer IT equipment, include managed security services like IT outsourcing, secure Web gateway appliances and security information and event management (SIEM). Above-average growth is expected for cloud-based security markets as demand for this delivery model grows, the report said.
“The security infrastructure market is expected to experience positive growth over the forecast period, despite risks of further economic turbulence,” Lawrence Pingree, research director at Gartner, said in a prepared statement. “Results from the 2012 annual Gartner CIO survey show increased prioritization for security compared with 2011 and results from Gartner budgeting surveys published in June 2012 underline the fact that organizations globally are prioritizing on security budgets.”
The survey found 50 percent expected their IT security budgets to remain the same, while 45 percent said they expected those budgets to rise. A mere 5 percent of respondents expected security infrastructure budgets would decline. With demand for security services driven by a perpetual threat landscape and the evolving sophistication of attacks, regional variation is expected to be minimal, although Gartner research director Ruggero Contu noted emerging economies would see a much-higher rate of security budget increases.
“Although security remains fairly resilient in tough times, the prolonged financial crises seen in the U.S. and Europe have had some impact on IT security spending globally but to a lesser extent for emerging countries, such as Brazil, China and India,” Contu said in a prepared statement. “Our most current forecast reflects our expectation that the various markets within security infrastructure will be affected to different degrees.”
Pingree also remarked that in 2012, the market contributing most to overall growth, excluding exchange-rate effects, would be security services, followed by security software. “We expect current market trends will keep security infrastructure growth at between 9 percent and 11 percent from 2011 through 2013, but we are factoring in a higher degree of caution in terms of buying behavior,” his statement concluded.