Microsoft Profits Up, Security Market Up, Too
Money is being made all right, and not just at Microsoft. The security market news includes record profits and mergers, both positive signs, at least from a business perspective. Some, like Bruce Scheiener, are wondering why we should need security vendors, but more on that in a minute.
Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $14.40 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, a 32% increase over the same period of the prior year. This revenue drove record profits with operating income of $6.59 billion and net income of $4.93 billion.
Obviously the fact that Vista was selling in that quarter and not in the same period last year explains a lot. The IT market is looking for two things from Vista - security and managability. It's getting some but not all it needs.
Vista security isn't enough and vendors like McAfee are pulling in the profits. McAfee CDO Dave DeWalt is quoted in eWeek's McAfee Turns In Ninth Consecutive Record-Breaking Quarter
"We're in a hot space, security. In the data loss prevention space, there's been a lot of data leakage issues companies are having, whether it's the IRS losing hundreds of laptops with taxpayer information, the [TJX] issues with consumer cards, or ChoicePoint. Many companies are challenged by risk management" right now, DeWalt said.
This brings us to the management part. McAfee sees the need for improved management and so does Symantec, that's why they picked up infrastructure management firm Altiris. It doesn't matter how good your security products are if they are not deployed or they're misconfigured. IT wants solutions to security problems, not just tools for crafting a solution.
Which brings me back to my earlier comment about Bruce Scheiener's comments at Infosecurity Europe 2007 and quoted in CNet
"We shouldn't have to come and find a company to secure our e-mail. E-mail should already be secure. We shouldn't have to buy from somebody to secure our network or servers. Our networks and servers should already be secure."
If you surveyed 100 IT professionals, 90 of them would agree with Schneier but 85 of those would say it just isn't going to happen in their lifetimes. Like any ideal, it is harder to put in place than to ponder.
No matter how healthy we are, we still need an immune system - the same goes for computer security. IT functions in a hostile environment and needs technologies and processes dedicated to mitigating risks from the malicious parts of that environment. The security market's future still looks bright (unfortunately).
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