Increasingly sophisticated network attacks are prompting companies to invest further in separate security appliances rather than implement and manage security tools on existing servers.
That pattern was highlighted by a 17% rise in security appliance sales during the second quarter to $613 million, the segment's ninth consecutive quarter of double digit year-on-year growth, according to research group IDC.
However, the shape of the security appliances market is changing. Revenue for the leading appliance category – firewalls and virtual private network (VPNs) – actually fell to levels not seen for two years. While the segment accounted for 68% of the overall security appliance market in the second quarter of 2004, it now makes up just 51% of the total.
The rankings, however, remain the same, with Cisco, Juniper and Nokia holding on to the top three places and increasing their combined share of the revenue pie from 64% to 73%, IDC reports.
Making up for the decrease in firewall/VPN appliance revenues was growth in two other areas: unified threat management (UTM) and intrusion detection and prevention (ID&P). Over the year, the UTM appliance segment doubled its share of the overall market to 24%, with Sonicwall leading joint-secondplace holders Symantec and Fortinet.
Demand for ID&P appliances grew 53%. As a result, the segment has increased its share of the total market over the past year from 19% to 25%. Cisco continues to lead that sub-market, ahead of ISS, says IDC.
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