Symantec, McAfee Dominate Security Software Market, Gartner Says

The bring-your-own-device trend (BYOD) and evolving IT security threats are driving strong growth in the security software market for companies such as Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and IBM, according to a new report from IT research firm Gartner, Inc. (IT). Here’s a look at that and other findings from the report.

Gartner said that as more employees bring mobile devices into the workplace, new threats are evolving and businesses are preparing. (Check out our recent overage of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report for mobile device management.) New security concerns are being addressed by purchasing more security software to handle the increasing demand from the mobile workforce. And the spending is not limited to the enterprise. Gartner said small and midmarket businesses are increasingly making IT security spending a priority. Yet these companies often consume security in a different way than enterprises do.

“Security continues to be a top priority across all technology categories in the SMB market,” said said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner, in a prepared statement. “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. 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.”

Contu also pointed to the rise of demand for remote access to applications and data, an array of new client devices and the rapid adoption of virtualization in the SMB market as driving interest in security solutions targeting virtual environments.

Market leaders jockey for position

Gartner also provided a rundown on vendor market share and growth. Symantec (SYMC) retained its spot as the number one vendor in the consumer and enterprise security spaces in 2012, reaching almost $3.75 billion in revenue and taking 19.6 percent of the market. The company only grew, however, 2.6 percent.

McAfee (MFE), another top security software vendor in the market, reached $1.7 billion in revenue in 2012, and showed significant growth of 37 percent, pushing the company’s market share to 8.8 percent. Gartner said the company’s growth was due to a number of factors, including “organic growth, acquisitions and the indirect impact of a 2011 revenue write-down following Intel’s acquisition of McAfee.”

Trend Micro grabbed the number three spot with $1.2 billion in revenue and 6.1 percent of the market. IBM (IBM) ranked fourth, owning 5 percent of the market.