Debunking Consolidation

Another false claim to lay to rest today. This Australian article is so wrong.

It starts with:

The booming security market is heading for a bloodbath with both vendors and analysts expecting the number of companies selling security applications to fall from more than 700 today to just a handful by the end of the decade.

And goes on to quote someone from CA to back up the hype. .

I've blogged before about why the security industry does not and will not consolidate. In 2002 there were 900 security vendors. Today there are 1,500. There are more firewall vendors today then there were in 2000 when supposedly the firewall wars were over, won by Check Point and Cisco. The reason CA wants to spread misstatements like this is that they cannot compete with the innovative young security companies that arise to counter new threats.

As long as there are new threats there will be no consolidation in the security space. In four years there will be *more* security companies. Although it would not surprise me at all if CA was out of the security market by the end of the decade.

If anyone acts on this blathering they will be sorely disappointed.

(posted from Lucy's Coffee House, Boise. Where the apple pie is perfect and the wi-fi is free!)