Email, Web and IM Security Market Trends, 2008-2011

This report is focused on the demand drivers for solutions that are designed to address email, instant messaging and Web-related security threats. The research conducted for this report, and the report itself, are focused on the needs of vendors, investors and others who are interested in participating in the email, instant messaging and Web security markets in some fashion. The information included in this report is designed to help these vendors and interested parties make informed decisions about the future opportunities available in this market.

The research for this report was conducted, and this report was written, from a completely objective viewpoint, not with any predisposition for or against a particular vendor, solution or technology. Because multiple vendors were involved in funding this report, no one vendor' s viewpoint had an influence on shaping the research focus. Early subscribers to this report were given the opportunity to provide input to the research program conducted specifically for it.

• The Biggest Threat?
• Web-borne threats continue to pose a grave danger to the enterprise. They can expose a network to severe security risks and their invasion of innocuous hosts makes them particularly dangerous. Enterprises are responding accordingly by making protection against Web-borne threats a chief concern.
• Watch Your Information
• Data loss protection (DLP) systems will be a growing market for organizations in 2008 as most organizations aim to prevent information/data loss. The market for these systems is still very young, but growing at a substantial rate as noted in the forecast in this report.
• Your Reputation Matters
• Traditional content filtering won' t be enough to keep up with spam growth. Spammers are using image-based spam, PDF spam, calendar spam, spam in Excel files and other techniques to avoid content filters. Blocking these messages by leveraging conventional content-filtering technologies takes an enormous toll on anti-spam server or appliance CPU cycles.
• Hybrid Solutions Will Become More Popular
• Hybrid solutions, in which on-premise security solutions are supplemented with an “inthe-cloud” solution as a sort of pre-filter, will become much more popular. This will be due, in large part, to the fact that sudden spikes in spam volumes can overwhelm on-premise systems, resulting in message delivery problems or system crashes, more IT time required to address these problems, and additions to the on-premise infrastructure of appliances or servers.
• The Time is Right for an Integrated Security Architecture
• There is a strong in interest in an appliance pulling together all security functions, though there is some disagreement over whether this should be done by a single appliance or different vendors' solutions integrated through a common console.
• Hosted Offerings are on the Increase
• Enterprises still prefer in-house systems to hosted solutions, but that' s starting to change.
• What Do Organizations Look For in Messaging Security Offerings?
• Respondents are placing less of an emphasis on brand reputation and integration with other security products from the same vendor and far more emphasis on price.