IBM touched off <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2210938,00.asp">a major push for security that will include spending $1.5 billion</A> on security-related efforts in 2008 to help businesses protect data and manage risk.

Company officials said the money will be spent on developing security products and services as part of a strategy to make IBM a more prominent player in the estimated $100 billion global security market. The company has carved security into five domains: Information Security; Threat and Vulnerability, Application Security; Identity and Access Management and Physical Security.