Nearly 80 per cent of large European companies cite upgrading security systems as their main IT priority this year, according to a Forrester Research report.

The analyst also found that 56 per cent of IT decision-makers working in companies with more than 1,000 employees include upgrading business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities in their top priorities in 2007.

‘Security spending in Europe will remain healthy in 2007 among enterprises and SMEs alike, with enterprises leading the charge,’ said Bill Nagel, Forrester analyst and one of the report authors.

‘Nearly 80 per cent of firms already using security software plan to upgrade or add to that software this year.’

SMEs are more concerned with purchases of new PCs and consolidating the IT infrastructure than security upgrades.