Security Sizzles On Hot Products List

Security products took the top four slots in the Top 10 hot products in CRN&'s monthly solution provider survey for June.

The research results are “totally in line” with how business is going, said Deepak Thadani, president of SysIntegrators, a Woodside, N.Y.-based solution provider. “We have always done security, but it is playing a more important role within the company,” he said. “We are deploying more firewalls than ever, and spyware is definitely climbing up the ladder because people are scared.”

Some 62 percent of solution providers surveyed in June expected firewall sales to grow 6 percent or more through September, earning the product category the No.1 spot on the Top 10 list. Antispam products came in a close second, with 59 percent of survey respondents said they expected 6 percent or more growth, followed by antivirus at 57 percent and intrusion detection at 56 percent.

David Sockol, president and CEO of Emagined Security in Belmont, Calif., said his business is growing as customers both respond to immediate needs and plan to avoid future breeches. “A big part of the growth is customers trying to move beyond responding to the tactical and move to strategic prevention,” he said.

And while solution providers said they no longer believe this year will be the blockbuster year they had anticipated in January, they are expecting security sales to pick up some of the slack. The CRN Spending Expectations Index inched up to 79 in June from 77 in May, but the overall trend this year has been downward since it peaked at 129 in December. The index is set on a base of 100, representing solution provider sales expectations in April 2004.

Customer research backs up solution providers&' confidence in the security space. According to CRN&'s Business Spending Survey, security is the top IT spending priority for small, midsize and large businesses. Among large companies with 1,000 or more employees, security technology earned a rating of 4.08 out of 5 on the priority scale. Midsize companies with 100 to 999 employees gave security spending a 3.94 rating; small businesses rated security at 3.42.