Symantec increases dominance of security software sector

Market posts positive numbers for 2011 but "western Europe remains the laggard"

Market leader Symantec outgrew all its rivals to increase its position of power in the security software market last year, Gartner figures have revealed.

According to a report from the market watcher, the annual worth of the global security software market grew 7.5 per cent to $17.7bn (£10.9bn) in 2011. Gartner research director Ruggero Contu picked out Asia as a key growth area, while "western Europe remained the laggard, because of the region's uncertain economic situation".

Symantec grew global sales 17 per cent year on year to more than $3.6bn, giving it a market share of 20.6 per cent, up almost two points on its 2010 share.

Second-placed McAfee saw its figures negatively affected by its acquisition by Intel, as the chip giant had to write down more than $400m of the security firm's deferred revenue. McAfee's 2011 security software sales were pegged at $1.2bn, a 27.5 per cent drop on the preceding year. Consequently, its market share has dropped from 10.3 to 6.9 per cent.

Just one tenth of a point behind it last year was Trend Micro, which grew revenue 11.3 per cent to $1.2bn. IBM, in fourth place with 5.3 per cent of the market, grew sales 14.2 per cent to $930m. EMC rounded out the top five, after growing 2011 security software revenue 14.3 per cent to $716.1m, giving the storage giant a four per cent slice of the market.

All other vendors, who account for 56.4 per cent of sales, grew total sales 9.3 per cent to almost $10bn.

"Growth in the 2011 security market reflects a continuation in demand for consumer and enterprise security tools," said Gartner's Contu."Products within the security market are undergoing rapid evolution, in terms of both new delivery models – with security-as-a-service showing increasing popularity – and new technologies being introduced, often by startup companies.

"Key vendors continued to expand their product portfolios in 2011, buying companies where appropriate and expanding their reach into emerging markets. M&A activity also has been an important factor in shaping the market landscape, at least during the past five years."