The annual Gartner ITxpo symposium has started this week in Barcelona. Gartner reported that worldwide security services spending is on pace to reach 35.1 billion dollars in 2011. More and more organizations prefer to take up IT security as a service. Gartner expects sales in IT security will grow to over 49 billion dollars in 2015.

Both large organizations and SMEs are increasingly choosing for security-as-a-service so they can reduce their operating costs. More and more providers offer their software as a service. Many local IT security players confirmed this trend at the Infosecurity event this year in Utrecht. Security is now extra hot due to many exceptional occurences that have raised awareness and encouraged vigilance in this area.

A new role and responsibility will develop in the channel where distributors in many cases will take the lead in offering SaaS solutions. In addition we believe that further consolidation in the IT security market will take place. Both at supplier level and in the distribution channel.