06/10-03   -   Pressmeddelande

Security a bright spot in an otherwise difficult software market, Says IDC

STOCKHOLM, October 6, 2003 - Sales of security software increase last year by 13% and this is expected to grow by a further 14% to reach 105m USD. This is one of the positive segments in a market for standard software otherwise characterized by a period of low growth. A significant tendency in the security software market is that the market is not even dominated by the major software vendors - they have yet to catch up with some of the more specialist vendors such as Symantec, Network Associates and Checkpoint. Among the top 10 vendors in the security software market we only find two of the general software vendors, IBM and Computer Associates.

This picture is likely to change in the future. The major vendors of system infrastructure software have to address the security segment. At the same time the specialist security software vendors have to realize that security is just one aspect of infrastructure software and cannot be considered in isolation. They have to - as Symantec is currently doing - expand their product portfolio with related system management software areas to achieve a more holistic offering.

The share of security software as part of the infrastructure software market is rapidly increasing. Already now, security software is a much bigger market than the traditional system management software and in 2007 IDC predicts the security software market to constitute a significant 30% of the total infrastructure software market.
This is one of the key reasons that the market for infrastructure software in Sweden increased by 13% last year and is expected to continue growing over the coming years.

Apart from this there were not many bright spots in the Swedish software market according to the new study on sales of packaged software in Sweden that has just been released by IDC. The entire market for package software only increased by 4.9% last year to a value of 1.9b USD, held back by a market for enterprise applications only growing by 4%.

"With a 4.9% total software market growth, the Swedish software market experienced the lowest growth in many years. It does not only mark the current economic slowdown, but also a more fundamental trend in the software industry: a software complexity crisis. However, the bottom has been reached, and we see definitive signs of market improvement over the next two years. Still, growth will remain in the single digits. We do not expect the aggregate to enter the two-digit range it has enjoyed for the last 20 years" - Per Andersen, Managing Director, IDC Nordic

The survey, Sweden Software Market Forecast and Analysis 2002-2007, is available to purchase from your local IDC office or on www.idc.com.

For more information contact:
Nils Molin
+46 8 751 0415
nmolin@idc.com

For more information on this or other IDC research, please contact IDC Nordic Sales or your local IDC representative.

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About IDC
IDC is the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. We analyze and predict technology trends so that our clients can make strategic, fact-based decisions on IT purchases and business strategy. Over 700 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide local expertise and insights on technology markets. Business executives and IT managers have relied for 40 years on our advice to make decisions that contribute to the success of their organizations.

IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com
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