The larger and more dominating industry vendors, says Hansen, will “not be hurt by the recession”. Having previously implied only six or seven ‘super players’ in the industry, in which CA was included, this leaves hundreds of vendors vulnerable to the recession.
“The current economic downturn is not killing us”, says Hansen. “The small companies though, have a big problem, and many will be making their last stand at this year’s RSA conference. The smaller companies are wandering around the show looking to be acquired by bigger players, like CA. It’s kind of sad” said CA’s Hansen.
“While there is VC money available, there is currently a decline in start-ups” said Hansen, “People are more risk adverse during a recession. Customers are more wary of who they are buying from – less inclined to take a risk with smaller, lesser-known companies”.
Rick Caccia of ArcSight told Infosecurity that he too feared for the smaller companies in the information security industry. “It’s a tough time” he said. “The problem is, private companies can claim big profits and large growth, but you can’t be sure how much truth there is in it. ArcSight however, are a public company. Everyone can see that we’re growing healthily”.
While vendors exhibiting at the show were all keen to share their success and growth with show attendees, the exhibition hall was notably quieter than previous years.
Despite the economic downturn, CA’s Hansen shared results from CA’s research report which indicates that 42% of respondents said they would spend more on security in 2009, and 50% suggested they would spend the same.