Spam and spyware are a nuisance to you and big business to companies who've devoted themselves to fighting the pests, with USA Today saying up to 150 companies around the world offer anti-spam and anti-spyware products – but a coming consolidation sweep could begin "separating (the) sheep and goats" in what's being considered an industry approaching a billion-dollar level.
"There are simply too many vendors, and many of them will either be acquired or go out of business," said independent analyst Michael Osterman to USA Today. "When the dust settles, consumers and corporate customers will be left with fewer companies with more comprehensive anti-spam solutions, experts say. Pricing for products isn't expected to change much because competition will remain fierce."
The Radicati Group, a market researcher, says anti-spam sales have swollen thanks to companies buying hardware and software to fight spam, which the company says costs businesses about $10 billion a year. The company said anti-spam spending is liable to hit $1 billion for 2004, a 50 percent hike from last year.
Radicati believes enterprise security as a whole is likely to become a $2.9 billion industry around the world and grow fast enough in the coming four years to hit $6.6 billion by 2008.
Large computer security companies are buying out their smaller rivals quickly enough, such as Norton Anti-Virus makers Symantec buying TurnTide earlier in July for $28 million and anti-spam vendor Brightmail for $370 million in June, USA Today said. Other consolidations in the online security industry are likely to come from partnerships – like IBM's with MessageLabs to take up e-mail filtering – and dropouts unable to break through for more venture funding, the paper added.
