The growth rate of the worldwide security software market
will more than halve to 8% from 19% last year but will still total
$14.5bn in 2009, says market analystGartner.
Gartner expects the world market to recover in 2010 with growth
rising to 13% as revenue grow to $16.3bn.
In Europe, the security software market will total €3.2bn in
2009, 7% up from 2008, Gartner said.
Gartner principal research analyst Ruggero Contu said the
perception that security was a critical area underpinned the
above-inflation growth rates.
"Although the market is affected by the economic downturn,
security remains a critical area where drastic cuts cannot be
afforded," he said.
The best growth will come from software as a service (SaaS),
appliance-based offerings, and small and medium businesses (SMBs),
which "are in security catch-up mode", he said.
Consumer security will remain the largest single revenue segment
(25%) of the total market. Gartner said it will account for $3.6bn,
growing 4% in 2009.
The enterprise security software market, which includes segments
such as endpoint protection, email security and user provisioning
was worth $10.9bn, growing 9% in 2009, he said.
Last year's market saw a lot of consolidation. McAfee bought
Secure Computing, Symantec and Sophos bought MessageLabs and
Ultimaco respectively. More is expected because end users want
better-integrated multi-products, said Contu.