Security software sales continue rapid growth

While the economy may be down, the software industry is still doing well according to market researcher Gartner, which recently reported that global software revenue in 2008 increased by 18.6% closing out with total revenue of $13.5 billion.

Principle research analyst at Gartner, Ruggero Contu, stated that the security market in 2008 did not show any impacts of the recession, as security still tops the list of key concerns for IT and CIO managers.

Part of the reason for the focus on data security and privacy may be the fact that targeted malicious attacks are getting more common and sophisticated, leading IT workers to search for more current solutions.

A great deal of the security market growth is thought to come from businesses that specialize in providing security solutions alongside compliance solutions which topped the revenues for the Western Europe and North American markets.

Even with the large increase, the leader in the security market is still Symantec although smaller players are starting to chip away a little at its large lead.

In the past Symantec led the market with 24.4% of all revenues, but in 2008 it saw a slight decrease of 22% due to the presence of smaller security providers.

McAfee saw the largest rise in revenues among the top five security providers, showing an increase of 20.5% in 2008 from 2007.