Strong growth expected for security s/w market

CAMPBELL,USA: Market research firm Infonetics Research released the fourth quarter (4Q09) editions of its

"Content Security Appliances and Software" and "Network Security Appliances and Software" market size, market share, and forecast reports.

"The 2010 year started off with a bang for security awareness overall, with major news headlines dominated by talk of the Google/China incident and mainstream publications reporting heavily on the iPhone and potential security risks in handheld devices and mobile networks. This increased awareness of security threats, combined with a return to spending in the branch office and the focus on cloud-based security services and security-as-a-service, will make 2010 a good year for the network and content security appliance and software markets," predicts Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research.

NETWORK SECURITY MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

 -  Network security appliance and software revenue increased 13 per cent worldwide between 3Q09 and 4Q09, totaling $1.4 billion

 -  Virtually all network security vendors posted revenue growth in 4Q09, with the bump up in the market driven by market leaders Cisco (up 18 per cent from 3Q09) and Check Point (up 22 per cent)

 -  Juniper started a strong recovery in 3Q09, so while their 4Q09 sequential growth was not as high as Cisco's or Check Point's, their 2H09 performance was equally impressive

 -  In 4Q09, worldwide VPN and firewall software revenue increased 26 per cent, SSL VPN gateway revenue 14 per cent, and intrusion detection and prevention products 17 per cent sequentially

-  Infonetics Research projects the network security appliance and software market

will grow to $6.4 billion in 2014

CONTENT SECURITY MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

 -  Content security appliance and software revenue grew 9 per cent between 3Q09 and 4Q09 to

$625 million

 -  Infonetics forecasts the worldwide security appliance and software market to hit

$3.4 billion in 2014

 -  Every content security gateway vendor that Infonetics tracks posted sequential

revenue gains in 4Q09, ranging from the single digits for most to Cisco's strong 28 per cent

jump

 -  For the 2009 year, McAfee expanded its revenue market share lead for overall content security gateway (appliances and software), followed by Websense and Blue Coat

-  The North American content security gateway market passed the $1 billion mark for

the first time in 2009, hitting $1.15 billion.