Anti-spam Software Revenue To Hit $1.7B By 2008
By 2008, the Framingham, Mass.-based research firm forecasted, worldwide revenues of anti-spam solutions -- software and hosted services -- will run to $1.7 billion. In 2003, the last full year for which hard numbers are available, anti-spam spending was only $300 million.
"Whether the next several years will show continued improvements in effectiveness, accuracy, and reducing the costs of spam will depend on how quickly and well anti-spam solutions keep up with the latest spam innovations," said Brian Burke, a research manager for IDC, in a statement.
Global anti-spam revenues will grow at a compound annual rate of 42 percent through 2008, said IDC, an amazing increase in IT, which overall isn't projected to reach even the low end of double-digit growth during that period.
IDC's prognostication comes on the heels of a report from a rival research firm that spam costs -- including software, management time, and lost user productivity -- will hit $50 billion this year.