Managed security to fuel services spending growth

Security services market set to soar until at least 2015, according to Gartner

Explosive growth in the managed security arena is set to fuel the rapid expansion of the security services market over the next four years.

According to figures from Gartner, worldwide security services spending is set to grow 12.9 per cent this year to $35.1bn. Next year, spending is projected to reach $38.3bn, and by 2015 the market is forecast to be worth more than $49bn. Western European spending is pegged at almost $12bn in 2012, and $14.4bn in 2015.

Between 2010 and 2015, the analyst predicts that consulting spending will rise from $8.6bn to $12.2bn, while the global development and integration spend will increase from $10.3bn to $13.7bn. The worth of the security hardware maintenance and support market is set to swell from $996m to $1.4bn, while spending on software support is forecast to grow from $4.4bn to $6.9bn.

But the managed security arena is set to be the market's star performer, with spending predicted to more than double by 2015. Last year, spending on managed security services stood at $6.9bn. Gartner projects this will expand to $14.9bn in 2015, making this the largest segment of the market.

Lawrence Pingree, research director at the analyst, said: "Demand [for managed security services] in the small and medium business segments is high, as businesses continue looking to external parties to provide them with additional security expertise and resources they may be lacking organisationally to help them make the right security decisions or provide security functions externally."