HR Addresses the Enterprise

NEW YORK, August 2, 2006 – Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), the paid research division of Light Reading Inc. (www.lightreading.com), is proud to announce the launch of Heavy Reading Enterprise (www.heavyreading.com/enterprise), a brand-new research service aimed squarely at a market sector of vital interest to the entire networking and technology supply chain – the enterprise IT market.

The inaugural report from this new service delivers a comprehensive analysis of enterprise attitudes toward and spending plans for network and information security products and technologies, including full results of an exclusive, worldwide survey of enterprise IT professionals, offering deep and unparalleled insight into enterprise deployment plans for security products in the coming months and years.

The Future of Network & Information Security investigates the major security products, industry initiatives, and vendors without any hype; it also provides clear guidance on what enterprise customers think about the state of their security, what they are buying and planning to buy, and the roadblocks they are encountering in terms of their buying strategies and their overall security strategies.

The heart of the 83-page report is a major worldwide survey of enterprise professionals, gauging their attitudes and expectations about information and network security technologies and deployments. Nearly 200 respondents participated in the invitation-only survey, representing a rich mix of company sizes and more than two dozen vertical market sectors.

The survey covers enterprise customer perceptions about the state of security at their organization, roadblocks to effective security, the current state of security technology, and enterprise buying decisions – that is, what is driving their technology choices and what they are looking at in terms of choosing security vendors.

In addition to detailed analysis of survey results, the report includes a comprehensive taxonomy of security products now available for enterprise use, as well as an up-to-the-minute accounting of critical standards initiatives. It also analyzes 33 leading IT security vendors – including those vendors identified by survey respondents as the market leaders in the security sector.

Key findings of The Future of Network & Information Security include the following:

Despite concerns about cost, enterprises of all sizes plan to increase spending on security products over the next two years. However, they are not going to spend indiscriminately; their spending will be based on a number of factors, including up-front price, return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO), and pre- and post-implementation services and support. In other words, enterprises will not base their spending exclusively on issues such as product features and functionality.

Security is evolving from a department-level concern to become an organization-wide initiative, but not all enterprises are making the necessary adjustment. Securing only departments or certain applications or data sources will do little to address an enterprise's security issues, and security is therefore increasingly treated as an organization-wide issue – a critical initiative that requires a long-term plan and a balanced risk-management approach. Many enterprises seem to be pursuing their security objectives fairly wisely, but many unfortunately still approach security in a knee-jerk fashion, confident that their firewalls will protect against most threats.

A variety of issues are hindering enterprise efforts to mount complete security initiatives. While respondents report that their security initiatives have the strong backing of upper management and that they also have dedicated security teams, many security initiatives are being stymied by a number of problems, among them money, executive-level support, personnel, and politics.

Customers are looking for products with a broad range of capabilities. The market for point solutions will remain strong, but the demand for a broader range of security tools reflects the increasing range of threats, as well as issues such as manageability. Integrated solutions may be a factor in some of product choices, while interoperability certainly ranks high on users' list of requirements. Enterprises are also looking at standards – both security standards and non-security standards – as well as at real-time capabilities and, in many cases, more reporting and metrics.

The Future of Network & Information Security provides invaluable insight into current and future prospects for enterprise security sector by delivering information directly from the most critical source: the companies and professionals that are making actual deployment and purchase decisions. Exclusive quantitative data from our enterprise security survey addresses a range of issues that are of major concern across the entire enterprise technology supply chain, including:

The report is essential reading for a wide range of industry participants, including:

The Future of Network & Information Security costs $4,995 and is published in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company. Purchasers of the report also gain access to the full survey results for targeted analysis in a searchable database. The online database allows for segmentation of results by a range of factors, including vertical market sector, size of organization, geographic location, and respondent job title.

Using the same highly successful model as Heavy Reading’s telecom practice, the new Heavy Reading Enterprise research service provides a wide range of products, including:

Heavy Reading Enterprise research reports are completely independent of industry sponsorship, which ensures that all reports are free of industry bias or influence. And direct access to enterprise/IT professionals enables Heavy Reading Enterprise to deliver a complete and unfiltered view into technology selection and deployment processes across a full spectrum of vertical market sectors and geographic regions.

For additional information, to request a free executive summary of this report, or for more information about Heavy Reading Enterprise, please contact:

Dave Williams
Sales Director, Heavy Reading
858-485-8870
[email protected]

Press/analyst contact:

Dennis Mendyk
Managing Director, Heavy Reading
201-587-2154
[email protected]

About Heavy Reading Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors, and investors. Its mandate is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next-generation hardware and software.

About Light Reading
Light Reading Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CMP Media, is a B-to-B network information provider. Light Reading publishes www.lightreading.com, the leading global content site for the telecom industry; www.byteandswitch, a storage networking site; and www.unstrung.com, dedicated to wireless networking. Light Reading is also affiliated with www.heavyreading.com, a market research site for quantitative analysis of telecom technology to carriers, service providers, and vendors.

About CMP Technology
Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands in the technology, healthcare, and lifestyles industries, CMP Technology has earned the confidence of more professionals and enthusiasts in these fields than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight, and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in each of these industries in ways that yield superior return on investment.