Network Security Appliance Market To Hit $6.4 Billion By 2008

The network security appliance market continues to expand, according to a new report from Infonetics Research, which found that revenues from security appliances and applications rose 4% in the second quarter of 2005.

Infonetics says in its Network Security Appliances and Software report that network security appliance revenues grew to $1 billion between the first and second quarter of this year. The firm expects revenues to jump 23% by the second quarter of 2006, reaching $1.3 billion, and predicts that they will reach $6.4 billion by 2008.

Virtual private network and firewall appliance sales accounted for more than three-quarters of network security revenues, while intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) made up 14%. Gateway anti-virus systems accounted for 8% of revenues.

"Some vendors are starting to build integrated content security appliances (virus scanning, spam filtering, spyware/malware security, etc.) and are intentionally leaving out VPN and firewall functionality, so these products can act as a supplement to existing embedded VPN/firewall products," Wilson said in a statement. "We'll keep a close eye on this segment as it emerges."

Perennial leader Cisco Systems remains at the top of the security market, with a 34% share of global revenues, with CheckPoint and Juniper in second and third place. While these three companies dominate the market, a group of strong second-tier players, including Enterasys, ISS, McAfee, Nokia, Nortel, SonicWALL, and Symantec, had strong quarters with between 1% and 6% shares of global revenues.