Top 5 Security Software Companies

1. Symantec:

As usual, at number one it is the American global computer security software corporation, Symantec.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Symantec is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.

Symantec competes in the antivirus industry against Avira, Comodo, BullGuard, F-Secure, Frisk, Kaspersky, McAfee, Sophos, Trend Micro, Norman Safeground among others.

Also Symantec competes in the Certificate Authority industry against Comodo, Trend Micro, DigiCert, Entrust, GlobalSign, GoDaddy and others.

According to Gartner, the company retained its No. 1 position in the consumer and enterprise security spaces in 2012, Symantec managed only single-digit growth of 2 percent to reach $3.75 billion in 2012.

As the market shares rose up to 19.6 percent, in terms of revenue, the company did better as in 2011 they marked revenue of $3.6 billion whereas last year the revenue was marked at $3.7 billion.

2. McAfee:

 

Led by John McAfee, who recently headlined suspecting his connections with a murder, security company McAfee comes at number 2 spot.

McAfee is an American global computer security software company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and the world's largest dedicated security technology company. As of February 28, 2011, McAfee is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel.

McAfee's competitors in the antivirus industry are Avira, BullGuard, F-Secure, Frisk, Kaspersky, Sophos, Symantec, and Trend Micro to name a few.

According to Gartner, second-placed McAfee showed significant growth of 37 percent in 2012 to reach $1.7 billion. This was driven by a combination of organic growth, acquisitions and the indirect impact of a 2011 revenue write-down following Intel's acquisition of McAfee, whereas the market shares jumped up by 8.8 percent.

3. Trend Micro:

 

At number 3, it’s a company that clearly has been marked as the dark horse within the security sector- Trend Micro.

Trend Micro is a Japanese security software company. It is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and markets Trend Micro Internet Security, Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security, OfficeScan, and other related security products and services. Eva Chen has been CEO for the company since 2005 succeeding Steve Chang, who is now Chairman.

Trend Micro competes in the antivirus industry against Avira, BullGuard, F-Secure, Frisk, Kaspersky, McAfee, Sophos, Symantec, Norman Safeground among others.

Trend Micro is also a certificate authority and member of the CA/Browser Forum, the industry standards group founded by Melih Abdulhayoglu of the Comodo Group.

But lately the company has been going down in terms of sales as such Gartner has marked the company’s revenue tag at $1.1 billion with a growth rate of -2.7 percent in the last fiscal year. Trend Micro is also the only company to have a down growth among the top 5. In 2012 the market shares peaked at 6.1 percent.

4. IBM :

 

At number 4 it’s the ‘Big Blues’, IBM. International Business Machines Corporation, or IBM, is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with headquarters in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

The company has undergone several organizational changes since its inception, acquiring companies such as Kenexa (2012) and SPSS (2009) and organizations such as PwC's consulting business (2002), spinning off companies like Lexmark (1991), and selling off product lines like ThinkPad to Lenovo (2005).

With a significant growth of 2.4 percent, IBM has recorded revenue of $953 million in the year 2012, whereas in 2011, their revenue was around $931 million. The company also scored better growth in terms of market shares as it grew shot up by 5 percent.

 

5. EMC:

 

 

Headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, EMC Corporation is an American multinational corporation that offers data storage, information security, virtualization, and cloud computing products and services which enable businesses to store, manage, protect, and analyze massive volumes of data. EMC's target markets include large Fortune 500 companies as well as small business across various vertical markets. The company's logo also incorporates exponent 2, a reference to Albert Einstein's mass–energy equivalence theory.

According to Gartner, EMCs’ 2012 revenue racked slightly better this year of $717 million when compared to 2011’s $716 million. Also in terms of growth, the company recorded a 0.2 percent rise in the fiscal 2011-2012.