News

Security spending strong

IT budgets are tight these days except for purchases of security software, according to analysts at AMR Research.

In AMR's recently completed report, Enabling Technology Spending, analysts found that for fiscal year 2002, 41% of organizations intend to increase their overall IT spending from 2001, 46% plan to remain the same, and 13% plan to decrease spending.

Spending for security applications, on the other hand, grew to 86% in 2001 from 81% in 2000. According to AMR analyst Catherine Quirk, security "promises to be a top priority again in 2002." Only database spending has surpassed it during those three years.

When broken down further by manufacturing and service verticals, Consumer Packaged Goods and Financial Services budgeted the most IT dollars for security at 91% apiece during 2001. In 2002, the numbers will skew slightly with Aerospace and Defense allocating the most in manufacturing at 52%, and Financial Services will remain a top security spender in service at 41%.

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About the Author

John K. Waters is a freelance writer based in Silicon Valley. He can be reached at [email protected].