Virtual security appliance mk up 57 pc in 2011

CALIFORNIA, USA: In its December 2011 Virtual Security Appliances report, market research firm Infonetics Research forecasts global revenue from virtual security appliances to finish the 2011 year 57 per cent higher than in 2010.

Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research, said: "The adoption of server virtualization within wiring closets and data centres at organizations of all sizes and the roll-out of infrastructure to deliver IT services in the cloud is driving significant change in the technical requirements for security solutions, presenting unique challenges."

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After more than doubling in 2010, in 2011 the global virtual security appliance market easily passed the half-billion-dollar mark for the first time, expected to hit about $670 million, up 57 per cent year-over-year.

In the five years from 2010 to 2015, Infonetics forecasts the virtual security appliance market to more than quadruple, to $1.75 billion.

"Some of the more vexing challenges include solving the inter-virtual machine threat problem without falling into the expensive trap of installing security software on every single virtual machine, deploying security technology that protect the broad range of applications running in virtualized environments, and navigating the complex web of vendors, standards, APIs, and architectures in play for securing virtual environments. These challenges represent key drivers for the virtual security appliance market and reflect why the market is growing so fast," explains Wilson.

Since Juniper Networks' acquisition of Altor Networks, virtually all of Juniper's major competitors have increased their product development and marketing focus for virtual appliances, including Trend Micro, Cisco, Check Point, F5, Blue Coat, Citrix, IBM, Symantec, HP, IBM, Enterasys, Fortinet, and Watchguard.

Specialists such as Vyatta and Catbird are still making waves in the virtual security appliance market, and the virtualization platform vendors themselves (VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft) are also in the mix for security solutions.