Global security software market grew 3.7% to $22.1 bn in 2015

In 2015, the global security software revenue reached $22.1 billion, a 3.7 percent increase over the previous year, states a recent study by Gartner titled Market Share Analysis: Security Software, Worldwide, 2015.

According to the report, Security information and event management (SIEM) saw a 15.8 percent growth and remained the fastest-growing segment. On the other hand, consumer security software witnessed the sharpest decline at 5.9 percent year on year.

The top five vendors, which includes Symantec, Intel, IBM, Trend Micro and EMC, accounted for 37.6 percent of the security software revenue market share, down 3.1 percentage points from 2014. These vendors displayed a collective decline of 4.2 percent in 2015. On the other hand, the rest of the market (Others) grew strongly at 9.2 percent year-on-year. Essentially, the smaller software security companies gained by providing specialised or niche solutions to protect data and information of enterprises.

The report notes that Symantec maintained the No. 1 position despite the company suffering its third consecutive year of revenue decline. In fact, this was its highest decline in revenue over a three-year period, wherein its security software revenue declined 6.2 percent to $3.4 billion. Intel’s security software revenue also declined in 2015, with its revenue falling by 4.1 percent to $1.75 billion.

In both cases, fall in consumer and endpoint protection platform (EPP) markets were responsible for overall revenue decline.

IBM was the only one of the top five vendors to show growth. The company’s security software revenue grew by 2.5 percent to total $1.45 billion in 2015. The growth was driven by its positive performance in the SIEM segment and its significant services business, which generates revenue for its product business.

"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, in a press statement.