Dive Brief:
- Worldwide security software revenue grew 3.7% to $22.1 billion in 2015, according to a new report from Gartner.
- Five vendors—Symantec, Intel, IBM, Trend Micro and EMC—accounted for 37.6% of the security software revenue market share.
- Security information and event management was the fastest growing segment growing almost 16%, while consumer security software decline 6% year over year.
Dive Insight:
Though the security software market grew overall, revenue for the top five vendors collectively was down 4.2% in 2015, Gartner found. The data suggests that some of the older security software providers are struggling, perhaps leaving room for new players to emerge and grow.
"The below-market growth seen by these large vendors with complex product portfolios is in contrast to the market growth and disruption being introduced by smaller, more specialized security software vendors," said Sid Deshpande, principal research analyst at Gartner.
The top two vendors, Symantec and Intel, have indicated challenges lately, with Intel reportedly looking into potentially selling its security business and Symantec launching a reorganization plan in hopes of returning to profitability.
Symantec suffered its third consecutive year of revenue decline last year, with revenue dropping 6.2% to $3.4 billion, Gartner said. Intel’s security software revenue fell 4.1% to $1.75 billion in 2015.
IBM was the only vendor among the top five that showed growth last year.
