Heavy Consolidation Among The Content Security Vendors Signals Market Maturity

In late 2008, the content security market saw a number of mergers and acquisitions. McAfee acquired Secure Computing, Symantec acquired MessageLabs, Marshal merged with 8e6, and Sophos acquired encryption vendor Utimaco. These activities, along with Webroot's acquisition of EMS and Websense's acquisition of SurfControl in 2007, all point to an industry that is rapidly maturing — pure plays are being assimilated by larger vendors that produce broader suites to address multiple communication protocols, comprehensive functionality, and coordinated defenses. As a security manager, you now have more consolidated product suites to choose from, resulting in more manageable and lower-cost solutions. Expect to see faster-paced innovation, such as email and Web security SaaS and integration with DLP in the content security space.