Security still ripe for innovation, Gartner finds
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New security threats have kept the security software market open for start ups with different approaches, says research firm Gartner
The top five security software vendors accounted for less than half of the market in 2010, down from 60% in 2006 according to new research from Gartner.
Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, IBM and EMC were the top five vendors by market share in 2010, accounting for $7.26 billion in revenue between them, just 44% of the security software market.
Gartner analyst Ruggero Contu said that even the market's high level of M&A activity had not prevented it from becoming fragmented.
"Market expansion and innovation are driven partly as a result of new start-up players entering the market," Contu said. "New players bring innovative technology solutions to cater for end-user requirements that in turn are created as a result of the new threats, often introduced by cybercriminals taking advantage of new vulnerabilities created by changes to IT ecosystems."
The report noted that start-ups were often able to find a specific security niche and take market share away from the larger vendors whose product may cover a broader sweep of security issues.
"The security market continues to provide good growth opportunities for both established players and start-up companies, and the market landscape remains fairly dynamic with many competitors," Contu said. "New, stand-alone niche tools will continue to be purchased to solve new rising threats and vulnerabilities that incumbent players haven't been able to address."
