OPSWAT Releases Q4 Antivirus, Backup Client and Windows OS Market Share and Usage Reports.

Updated: December 21, 2010

Security Industry Market Share Analysis
December 2010

The Research
Data was collected from a sample of the estimated 100 million endpoints that employ the OESIS Framework. OPSWAT analyzed almost ninety thousand opt-in reports that were submitted between August 16 2010 and November 15 2010.

Data for this report was collected using the detection capabilities of the OESIS Framework as well as by searching for common applications in the OS registry on endpoints. Antivirus vendors and Backup Clients looking for inclusion in the OESIS Framework are encouraged to contact marketing@opswat.com to partner with OPSWAT through the OESIS OK Certification Program and ensure that they are fully supported. Worldwide Antivirus Vendor Market Share
The avast! Antivirus product line has helped AVAST Software maintain the title of number one antivirus vendor worldwide with 17.53% global market share. ESET Software and Symantec round out the top three in global market share with 12.05% and 10.04% respectively. When comparing to the worldwide data reported in our June 2010 report, we show that ESET has the largest gain in market share with an increase of 6.39%. Other notable increases shown since June are Kaspersky, with a 2.46% increase in market share, and Panda Software, with a climb of 2.50% in global market share.

N. America Antivirus Vendor Market Share
With Symantec's vast Norton product line and effective distribution channels, they have maintained their position from our September 2010 report as the top antivirus vendor in North America, holding a 16.45% share of the market despite a slight decrease from the 16.67% share shown in September. Meanwhile, ESET and Microsoft have both shown strong gains climbing to 10.86% and 10.39% respectively in market share. McAfee also showed a rise since September with a 1.16% increase in North American Market Share.

Antivirus Product Market Share
Microsoft's Security Essentials Antivirus leads the North American Market for individual products with 10% market share, a 2.5% increase since our September 2010 report. "Free" antivirus solutions also accounted for 3 of the top 4 antivirus products detected globally, as avast! Free Antivirus, Microsoft Security Essentials, and AVG Anti-Virus Free were all available as free downloads.

Conclusion
In North America, fifty-three different antivirus companies were detected in this report. Of those fifty-three, five companies combined to control 60.74% of the antivirus market. While Symantec still controls a large part of the market, trends are moving away from paid antivirus software and towards free antivirus solutions such as those from Microsoft, AVG, and AVAST Software. Our current data shows that 58% of respondents were using a free solution, confirming our trend noted above when compared to a 42% free solution share as shown in our June 2010 report. When looking at worldwide data, the top three vendors are AVAST, ESET, and Symantec, together controlling nearly 40% of the market. The same three vendors also control more than 40% of the North American market, with Symantec leading the way with 16.45% market share. Of the ninety thousand reports that were submitted worldwide, only 60% of those reports detected having any antivirus application installed.

Windows Operating System Deployments
Our North American data shows the trend that users are gradually moving away from Windows XP and moving towards Windows 7. While Windows XP and Windows Vista have declined in market share, Windows 7 has increased by almost 6%.

Windows 7 continues to grow globally as well, jumping up 6.97% to 28.64% of the Windows Operating System's worldwide market share. Meanwhile, Windows Vista dropped in global market share with just 14.75% since our June 2010 report, which showed a 15.8% market share.

Backup Client Adoption
Backup Clients are becoming more and more popular as the importance of securing data increases. After analyzing worldwide backup client usage data, we were able to detect that nearly 47.83% of users with an installed backup client, backed up their data within one day. Of those we could detect, there were 26.09% of users who backed up their data between 1 day and 1 week. This data shows us that almost 75% of all users with backup clients are using them weekly, with nearly 82% of all users backing up their data at least monthly. This data was taken from a sample of reports received that used backup clients by Carbonite, Panda, Bullguard, Soonr, Avanquest and Mozy.

Backup Client Market Share
Of the top 17 backup client vendors OPSWAT was able to detect globally, Norton claimed the most market share with 26.49%. Rounding out the top 3 in backup client market share are McAfee 10.58% and Dropbox 10.41%.

Conclusion
Companies that offer all-inclusive security packages which include backup clients, such as Norton and McAfee, are at the top of the charts when it comes to market share. Their bundled, as well as standalone backup clients, help them control the backup client market. The most prominent example of a standalone backup client is Dropbox, who holds the third largest market share at 10.37%. This shows that standalone backup clients can still compete with all-inclusive security suites.