Cloud segment defying flat network security market

Overall network security market creeping up just three per cent, but cloud part of market swelling at over 20 per cent

Sales of cloud security solutions are skyrocketing, according to analyst Synergy Research, defying an otherwise flat network security market.

Total global network security revenues hit $9bn in the 12 months ending 30 September, up a muted three per cent on an annual comparison, Synergy said, with Cisco accounting for nearly a third of the market.

However, the datacentre segment of the market is swelling at over 10 per cent, while the cloud security part is booming at over 20 per cent, the analyst added.

Thanks in part to its Sourcefire acquisition, Cisco is even more dominant in cloud security than the overall network security market, boasting a 39 per cent share, according to Synergy.

"Historically security concerns have often been a significant barrier to the adoption of cloud, but the barriers have been weakened by the steady flow of more comprehensive and sophisticated security solutions from the leading vendors," said Synergy founder Jeremy Duke.

"This change in attitudes has gone hand in glove with a big increase in spending on cloud security. Cisco's strength in data centre equipment, and especially its strength in service provider data centre, has enabled it to strongly grow its share of cloud security revenues."

Check Point is the second largest network security vendor overall, Synergy said, followed by Symantec, Huawei, Juniper and Palo Alto Networks.

Jon Busfield, managing director of security VAR Cygnia, said Synergy's findings were at odds with what he has seen in the market this year.

"We have seen growth of between 25 and 30 per cent this year and not much of that has been cloud," he said, pinpointing managed services, penetration testing and auditing as the main hotspots.