China emerges in Asian security solutions market

A new report from Farmingham, Massachusetts-based IDC’s says that Australia accounted for about 26 percent of the total security solutions revenues in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APEJ) in 2006, while China accounted for about 22 percent. By 2011 China is expected to contribute 30 percent of the security solutions market by revenue in the region, compared to 21 percent which is forecasted to come from Australia. The five countries to top the APEJ IT security solutions market in terms of vendor revenues in 2011 are expected to be China, Australia, Korea, India, and New Zealand, in descending order. The report, titled “Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) IT Security Solutions 2007-2011 Forecast and Analysis,” observes that the security solutions market has become a lot more complex compared to a only couple of years ago. The competitive landscape is now broader and includes players ranging from niche local security solutions specialists to large global security vendors, as well as infrastructure players with a significant security solutions play. Local players are looking to expand regionally or even globally, while global players are looking for channel partners to help them gain better local traction.

IDC also notes the emergence of “3S” (Security, Storage, and System Management) vendors who have added another dimension to the security solutions market. These players have a wide product portfolio covering security, storage, and system management as they aim to be a one-stop shop that can meet all enterprises’ IT needs. These players tend to be large infrastructure vendors, some of which have made strategic acquisitions of security solutions vendors to beef up their security capabilities. On the demand-side, IDC’s research shows that security of data and systems remains the most important issue that organizations face today. Ubiquitous use of IT for daily work, the increasing reliance of the business operations on IT, and the quickening pace of rolling out new applications and systems, all add to the risk of security breaches. These factors are driving enterprises to continue to invest in IT security. IDC thus recommends that buyers take the data-centric approach when designing the security framework, as information assets are often the crown jewels of an organization.

One of the key impediments to buying security solutions is the reactive rather than proactive mindsets. While working toward creating an understanding of improved security governance, IDC recommends that IT vendors educate end-users on the merits of being proactive, rather than reactive. There is a constant need to justify returns on investment, but security is something that is difficult to quantify when nothing happens. Failure to secure and subsequent losses to the organization is something that can be better articulated, but waiting for for such losses is not a good way to secure the organization’s IT infrastructure.