Forrester, Gartner, IDC recognize IBM’s security services
Published July 29, 2014
NEWS BRIEF -- In the wake of Target’s infamous loss of data for 40 million customer credit cards, security has risen as a multi-layered concept that requires the nuanced accountability of professionals, who nevertheless meet the issue with fragmented knowledge of how safe—and vulnerable—their enterprises are.
In recent research conducted by Insights Magazine, survey respondents reported challenges in a range of security categories, from authentication and compliance to identity management. Some companies struggle with achieving simple employee awareness of internal and external vulnerabilities. Seen by executives as a frustratingly expensive necessity—one that doesn’t bring in revenue— security solutions that offer a comprehensive portfolio of safeguards are still extremely attractive to enterprises—and IBM has responded to this market demand.
IDC announced last week that IBM is a worldwide leader in security services. According to a statement, IBM invested $6 billion/year in research and development efforts and over a five year period spent more than $14 billion in 25 analytics-focused acquisitions— which includes companies such as Q1 Labs and QRadar.
With 3,000 security-related patents, IBM offers a complete set of software and services that use powerful analytics capabilities to study security events, identify threats, and protect people, data, applications and technology infrastructure.
Forrester and Gartner have named IBM security services as a leader and earlier this month, with Gartner naming IBM Security Systems as a leader in providing Security Information and Event Management software. This news followed Gartner’s recognition, ranking IBM third in worldwide security software.
The statistics of IBM’s security product provision illustrates the scope of the challenge facing businesses in an age of diverse and evolving technologies. IBM assembled a team of 1,200 security software developers, 2,000 security consultants, and 6,000 security researchers, developers and subject matter experts along with a global network of security operations centers that monitor 20 billion security events a day. Big Blue was then able to identify the threats facing institutions that engage cloud, mobile, and data technologies.
Security-oriented sessions at IBM’s Impact show in Las Vegas last spring were among the most-well attended. With security a hot-button issue for IBM’s constituents, it is likely Big Blue will only grow its offerings in data protection, perimeter defense, and identity management sectors.