Gartner reports WW 2011 security software revenues reach $17.7 billion with 7.5% Y-o-Y growth-- with growth drivers including demand from SMBs, advanced persistence threats and compliance.
However the analyst describes the situation in W. Europe as "laggard" (due to persistent economic uncertainty) even as merging markets drive demand for both consumer and enterprise security tools.
Then again, security software continues showing resilience, even in these times of IT budget restrictions. It is also undergoing rapid evolution-- both in delivery models (Security as a Service is becoming increasingly popular) and technologies, with startup companies often introducing further innovation to the market.
Merger-and-acquisition activity was also an important factor in shaping the market landscape over the past 5 years, Gartner says.
When it comes to vendors, Symantec retains top place with 20.6% of the market and 17% Y-o-Y growth. The company continues expanding beyond traditional endpoint security, leveraging into the storage/data backup space through data loss prevention (DLP) and encryption products.
McAfee follows, even if owners Intel wrote down considerable revenue (30% of $1.4bn in deferred revenue) following the February 2011 acquisition. Gartner says McAfee aims to have better integration between Intel hardware and software-- for instance the new DeepSAFE low-level security agent runs below the OS on Intel Core I-series processors.
In 3rd place is Trend Micro, with what Gartner says is a strong presence in both consumer and enterprise security space.
