IT budgets will continue to prioritise security for the next four years at least,despite the economic slowdown,with$60bn to be spent on security technologies this year.
According to Gartner research,this is 8.4%higher than in 2011 and it will continue to grow steadily to$86bn in 2016,with outsourced security services,web security appliances and security information and event management(SIEM)the fastest growing areas in terms of spending.
The research also found that the cloud as a security delivery model will see above average growth.
"The security infrastructure market is expected to experience positive growth over the forecast period,despite risks of further economic turbulence,"said Lawrence Pingree,research director at Gartner."Results from the 2012 annual Gartner CIO survey show increased prioritisation for security compared with 2011 and results from Gartner budgeting surveys published in June 2012 underline the fact that organisations globally are prioritising on security budgets."
Gartner's CIO survey recently revealed that 45%of respondents expected security budgets to increase,while half think it will remain the same.Only 5%expected their budget to decrease.
The analyst said demand for security products is driven by organisations seeking the expertise and help of security technology and service providers to mitigate risks and reduce security vulnerabilities.
"Our most current forecast reflects our expectation that the various markets within security infrastructure will be affected to different degrees.In 2012,the market contributing most to overall growth–excluding exchange rate effects–is security services,followed by security software,"said Pingree."We expect current market trends will keep security infrastructure growth at between 9%and 11%from 2011 through to 2013,but we are factoring in a higher degree of caution in terms of buying behaviour."
See the Gartner report:Forecast Overview:Security Infrastructure,Worldwide,2010-2016,2Q12 Update.
