CAMPBELL, USA: Communications market research firm Infonetics Research reported that the content security gateway market, including software and appliances, increased 6 percent sequentially in the 1st quarter of 2008, following a 9 percent increase the previous quarter.

Infonetics' report, Content Security Appliances and Software shows the overall content security market neared $431 million in 1Q08, and annual worldwide revenue is expected to jump 24 percent from 2007 to 2008.

"Vendors are reporting that some buyers boost security spending during uncertain economic times because of increased hacking activity, bolstering the content security market. On the vendor front, the 1st quarter of 2008 was a bit sideways, with very mixed results: BlueCoat was down, Cisco was way up, and other vendors showed good incremental growth," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for network security at Infonetics Research.

Other highlights from the report:

* In 1Q08, content security revenue growth outpaced unit growth, with Cisco, which has higher average-selling-price (ASP) appliances, posting strong revenue growth this quarter.

* Overall ASPs are expected to decline, and could decline much more dramatically if more vendors enter the pure content security space, particularly SMB and commercial vendors like NETGEAR and D-Link.

* Websense, which acquired SurfControl in October 2007, is the #1 worldwide revenue market share leader in the total content security gateway market, followed by Symantec, Trend Micro, and McAfee