Security market remains buoyant in choppy waters

Companies are still investing in security despite the recession

Security spending continued to grow as a percentage of IT budgets through the first half of this year, despite double-digit declines in growth for many of the major vendors, according to the latest research from analyst house Canalys.

The firm reported that the end-user hardware and software security market in EMEA fared better than most, reaching a value of $2.1bn (£1.3bn) in the first half of 2009, representing a year-on-year decline of just 4.5 per cent.

By comparison, the networking market declined by 21.3 per cent, and the unified communications market fell by a huge 32.7 per cent.

Cisco retained its number one position by market share in the period, despite a year-on-year decline in growth of nearly 30 per cent, with shipments worth $356.4m (£216m).

Check Point completed its integration of Nokia's security business in the second quarter of 2009, and managed to take the second spot from Symantec with an 8.8 per cent market share.

Symantec fared badly, sinking to third with shipments of $177m (£107m), a year-on-year decline of 27.4 per cent.

McAfee in fourth place was the only top five vendor to post positive year-on-year growth, at a healthy 10.4 per cent with $153.6m (£93m) in shipments.

"2009 has seen new threats emerge. Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have created new risks," said senior Canalys analyst Matthew Ball.

"Redundant employees have also become a fast-growing form of data loss. This has caused many companies to invest in security, despite the recession, to protect critical company data. Investments in content security technologies will drive the market in the second half of the year."