Western European Security Software Forecast and Analysis, 2001-2006

Intrusion detection and vulnerability assessment (IDnA) product revenue in 2001 continued to grow rapidly, exceeding our generous forecasts. Vulnerability assessment (VA) tools continue to represent the majority of software revenue in this market. However, the gap between VA revenue and IDS revenue closed significantly. IDC believes that VA will eventually split into pure vulnerability scanners and VA as an integrated component of a complete security policy and management suite. As the IDnA market matures, the products covered within the market will become more specialized to meet targeted customer needs. Initially, specialization will come from start-ups and smaller companies, but eventually the features and products will be purchased or duplicated by market leaders.

The terrorist attacks of September 11 will change the way security is viewed. IDC believes that the boundaries between physical and information security will dissolve, industry and government will cooperate on "critical infrastructure security," but privacy will suffer. The policy for determining who you are (i.e., authentication or identity) and what you can do (i.e., authorizations) will become paramount. IDC believes security is now a mandatory consideration, not just a discretionary purchase.

About this Study

This report covers the highly fragmented Western European market for security software (SW) products. Security software products comprise the following five IDC markets:

The report provides detailed historical Western European revenues and market shares of security software vendors from 2000 to 2001. The 2001 top five vendors are shown for each of the five security submarkets in all 16 Western European countries.