While it retained the top position in the consumer and enterprise security spaces in 2012, Symantec managed only single-digit growth of 2.6 percent to reach $3.75 billion in 2012, as worldwide security software revenue totaled $19.2 billion in 2012, a 7.9 percent increase from 2011 revenue of $17.7 billion, according to a report from IT research firm Gartner.
Second-placed McAfee showed significant growth of 37 percent in 2012 to reach $1.7 billion, driven by a combination of organic growth, acquisitions and the indirect impact of a 2011 revenue write-down following Intel’s acquisition of McAfee. The company’s market share in 2012 was 8.8 percent, compared to Symantec’s 19.6 percent market share.
“The 2012 security market saw a continuation of increasing demand for consumer and enterprise security tools as McAfee’s high growth of 37 percent boosted the overall market’s growth rebound in 2012,” Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. “Although overall, the 2012 security market continued to grow, not all regions experienced the high double-digit growth of, for example, Eurasia, which was driven by greenfield projects and buoyant economies. As expected, Western Europe remained the laggard due to economic uncertainties and fragility and also due to the impact of dollar-to-euro conversion.”
In third place was Trend Micro, which garnered revenues of $1.1 billion and a market share of 6.1 percent in 2012. However, the company recorded an overall security revenue decrease of 2.7 percent, with negative growth impacting its consumer and enterprise businesses, and spent much of 2012 accelerating the diversification of its business with cloud and virtualization platform security and advanced threat protection (ATP) offerings.
In fourth place was IBM, which captured a flat five percent of the market and posted revenues of $953 million in 2012, while EMC rounded out the top five with $717 million in revenue last year, good for 3.7 percent market share. Other vendors made up nearly $11 billion in revenue and took more than half (56.8 percent) of the market.
The report also noted the rapid adoption of virtualization in the small to medium-size business (SMB) market space is driving interest in security solutions targeting virtual environments as spending on security software is influenced by the evolution of new threats and working practices, such as security concerns and requirements for businesses relying more on a mobile workforce and those adopting bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives. In addition, growing demand for remote access requires organizations to safeguard off-premises applications and data, as well as an array of new client devices.
“Security continues to be a top priority across all technology categories in the SMB market. The rise of midmarket demand presents a new challenge for participants in the security space, as SMB requirements are different from those of larger enterprises,” Contu said in a statement. “Security buyers from SMBs are increasingly considering security as a service as an alternative for deploying security technologies, particularly for areas such as email and Web security, which is leading to more market consolidation and more competitive pricing as established players acquire pure-play, cloud-based specialists across the security landscape.”
