Fear still driving antivirus sales
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But changes on the way for AV market.
Sustained fear about the business impact of malware is driving strong demand for antivirus software. Spending on antivirus software increased by 14% in 2005, according to analyst group Gartner. Total revenue for the year amounted to $4 billion, with the 51.5% of that coming from enterprises.
There was relatively little change in how the bulk of the market is divided up among the major antivirus software vendors. Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro continued to account for 86% of the pie in 2005, but the most notable growth was elsewhere. While only accounting for 3.2% of the market, Panda Software experienced growth of 23.8%. Another rapid grower, CA (formerly Computer Associates) experienced a rise of 14.9%, although it still only occupies 2.2% of the overall market.
Gartner predicts that major changes in how antivirus offerings are packaged will have a significant impact on the shape of the market in times to come. It forecasts that antivirus software and services will increasingly be sold alongside other commodity products as part of security appliances.
And although the market will continue to experience double-digit growth in the short-term, such converged devices may mean an eventual decline in demand for stand-alone antivirus products. Furthermore, Microsoft’s entry into the consumer antivirus market is expected to trigger the introduction of increasingly competitive rates, which will ultimately lower the overall market value.
