News

Study: IT Delayed After 9/11, But Will Still Make Major Security Purchases

• By Scott Bekker
• 10/30/2002

Officials at most security software firms will tell you their revenues and profits are up, but the mass rush for security-related products and services hasn't happened.

In a report released this week, research firm IDC, provides results of its own surveys of IT professionals along with market analysis to conclude that the spending was delayed but that a huge wave of corporate spending on security and business continuity solutions will still occur.

"Corporate buyers were confronted with a difficult situation -- their understanding of the security need was high but their ability to quantify the risk of a security threat was low," IDC chief research officer John Gantz said in a statement. "This uncertainty about the risk caused many companies to delay their purchase decisions. The result was a gap between the need for security and corporate investments in security solutions."

IDC projects that corporate spending for IT security will more than double from $66 billion in 2001 to $155 billion in 2006. In 2002, IDC expects that spending to reach $80 billion. The research firm projects that spending will be evenly split among infrastructure, information security and business continuity, although business continuity products and services will account for a slightly larger part of the market.

IDC conducted a survey of almost 1,000 IT managers in July. Forty percent of the respondents rated security as their highest priority.