Euro Security Market to Hit $1.4B

LONDON -- According to a newly-released IDC study, the Western European security appliance market will reach over $1.4 billion in 2009, up from around $625 million in 2004, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%. Of the three security appliance categories covered in the study - firewall/VPN, intrusion detection and prevention (ID&P), and unified threat management (UTM) - UTM will exhibit the strongest growth, growing at a CAGR of 61% between 2004 and 2009.

"There will be a significant shift in the Western European security appliance landscape over the forecast period," said Oliver Harcourt, senior research analyst for European Enterprise Server Solutions at IDC. "In 2004, firewall/VPN security appliances dominated the market as the primary category, but over the forecast period its share of the market will be cannibalized by ID&P and in particular UTM appliances as they exhibit stronger growth. In 2009, UTM security appliances will be the primary category, constituting around 50% of Western European security appliance revenue."

Over the last few years, appliances have become the preferred solution form factor for delivering security for vendors, managed service providers, resellers, and customers. Originally, security appliances were restricted to firewall/VPN functions, but now there are appliances available for virtually all security functions, as well as appliances that integrate multiple security functions.

"Security appliances have proven popular and will continue to do so because of the advantages they offer in terms of performance, convenience, cost, and choice," said Thomas Raschke, program manager for European Security Products and Strategies at IDC. "Going forward, UTM security appliances, which consolidate multiple security features on a single appliance, will spearhead growth in this market because of the additional benefits they offer, such as further reduced complexity and costs, combined protection to combat blended threats, flexibility, and scalability. Appliance vendors need to be aware of the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular are expected to display strong demand for the new UTM solutions."

IDC