This study analyzes the results of IDC's European Vertical Market survey, carried out between August and November 2007 in the top 5 Western European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.) among 1,473 SMBs with between 20 to 499 employees.

The survey looks at SMB IT spending directions, solution priorities, investment plans, adoption of new technologies and mobility, the role of IT in the organization, and customers' satisfaction with their IT suppliers.

The focus of this study is on SMB adoption and plans for adoption by company size, country, and vertical market of security technologies. Results are given for the top 5 Western European countries in the following vertical markets: banking, insurance/other finance, discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, healthcare services, transport/communications/utilities, retail/wholesale, business services, education, and government.

"Security remains a top priority for Western European SMBs. Data presented in this study confirms that SMBs continue to view security as the most important investment priority and, more importantly, that this priority largely translates across all company sizes into strong revenue opportunities for IT vendors," said Nina Bonagura, senior research analyst, IDC's European Vertical Markets team.