The network security market is set to expand to $6 billion by the end of 2009, according to a newly released report from Infonetics Research.
Written by analyst Jeff Wilson, the paper reported that worldwide network security appliance and software revenues grew by two percent between fourth quarter of 2005 and first quarter of this year. Revenues reached $1.2 billion during the first quarter.
Of that number, integrated security appliances and software made up 76 percent, followed by intrusion protection and detection systems with 14 percent and gateway anti-virus with ten percent of the market.
The market is led by Cisco at 35 percent market share and Check Point Technologies and Juniper following in a tie with nine percent share each.
Infonetics claimed that some core network security purchasing is being delayed until later in 2006 as companies are examining network access control and content security solutions. However, this has not delayed investment in firewalls, virtual private networks, IDS/IPS and gateway anti-virus.
"VPN/firewall functionality -- the core of most integrated security appliance products -- is truly reaching the commodity stage," Wilson said. "New silicon vendors are making it possible for manufacturers to build and sell multi-gigabit VPN/firewall appliances for under $5,000, with that number declining rapidly over the next year."