The overall value of the Gulf States security software market reached $44.31 million in 2002 with the secure content management, specifically anti virus software segment, overshadowing the rest of the market with a 57.2 percent share of spending, according to a recent IDC report.
The study reveals that Gulf States security software market is increasing sharply and will continue to enjoy a high growth over the next few years. "When it comes time to choose security products, many regional CIOs prefer to stick with easily understood, proven technologies such as firewalls and antivirus and avoid deploying more innovative technologies like intrusion detection and authentication," says Senior Analyst with IDC Middle East and North Africa, Heini Booysen. "The general feeling tends to be that the more complex the systems, the more likely it is to be misconfigured leading to security holes, vulnerabilities, and exploits."
Approximately three quarters of security software spending originated in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and spending on advanced technologies like security 3A and intrusion detection enjoyed more prevalence in these countries, while low-complexity products like antivirus and firewalls dominated security software spending in the other gulf countries.
"Security is increasingly occupying the minds of Middle East IT decision-makers," continues Booysen. "However the Gulf States security market is in many ways showing signs of immaturity, and there is still a severe lack of awareness of the potential risk of security attacks. Regional organizations still largely perceive security as a grudge-purchase that implies companies often spend in a reactive manner. In other words, only when actual security breach occurs, will companies react. "
Over the next five years, IDC expects the Gulf States security software market to expand at a
at a healthy CAGR of 29.5 percent to reach $161.67 million by 2007 with major areas of growth being secure content management, security 3A and intrusion detection and vulnerability assessment software.
Growth in the region will be driven by the increasing need for companies to do business online, the major success of e-government initiatives, the explosive growth in popularity of online banking and the alarming growth of security attacks. Countries included in the study are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
