Two new reports suggest that the IT security industry is going to
see across-the-board growth in the next few years.
In separate reports IDC and Dataquest, a division of Gartner, have
both lauded the growth potential for different sectors in the IT
security market, including services and software.
IDC's report said the market for managed security services could
hit $2.2bn (£1.6bn) by 2005 while Gartner's study said the market
for security software should hit $4.3bn (£3.0bn) by the end of this
year.
"Enterprises are looking particularly at defensive security
technologies such as antivirus software, intrusion detection
systems and firewalls," Colleen Graham, an industry analyst for
Gartner's Software Industry Research group, said. "Technologies
such as biometrics and other forms of authentication are also
getting a great deal of attention but because of the high cost of
rolling out such technologies, mass adoption of these products will
not occur before 2003."
In 2001, Gartner said it was the telecommunications and
communications industries that led the way in software investment.
This year, however, Gartner expects those two industries to cut
back while government, education and financial services increase
spending.
Gartner attributes increased awareness following the September 11
terrorist attacks as a driver behind the market growth.
Gartner added that other factors helped drive security awareness,
such as several well-publicised hacks, virus outbreaks and
distributed service attacks.
The IDC study suggests that as small to midsize companies realise
that they don't have the resources or expertise to construct an
appropriate defence themselves, they will turn to outside firms for
help. However, IDC went on to say that the providers of such
services would have to overcome a lack of security awareness among
the management of smaller companies.