Network security spend 'slow but steady'

As fears persist over the damage viruses and hacker attacks can do to corporate data, investment in network security continues.

Sales of network security appliances and software worldwide rose 15 per cent to $4.3bn during 2005, according to market researcher Infonetics Research.

During the fourth quarter of the year, however, the market rose only three per cent.

Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research, said Q4 didn't have "its usual seasonal bump" because some businesses are looking into solutions such as network access control and content security before spending on core network security.

Cisco led the integrated appliance/software market in 2005 with just over a third of the market, followed by Check Point with 10 per cent and Juniper with eight per cent. Infonetics also named McAfee, Nokia, Nortel and Symantec as "strong second-tier players".

Looking to the future, the network security market should see modest, steady growth of 32 per cent to $5.7bn in 2009, according to Infonetics.