This IDC study focuses on security solutions across vertical markets, drawing on the results of IDC's European Vertical Market Survey carried out between April and the end of July 2011 in the top 5 Western European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.) and among 2,044 companies with more than 20 employees.

"The attention that Western European companies are paying toward security is rising due to the fact that new drivers, such as the uptake of social media tools used in business environments or the increasing presence of mobile workers just to mention a couple, are adding their effects to the usual drivers that have been center stage in the last decade (e.g., regulations or the evolution of threats). Also, the increased availability of more flexible security solutions delivered via the cloud is spurring adoption even further. In this context, the percentage of companies investing in security increases, with finance, telecom/media, and government/education organizations being those showing the highest attention," said Angela Vacca, research manager, IDC European Industry Solutions.