According to Infonetics Research's Network Security Appliances and Software report, quarterly worldwide network security appliances and software revenue went up by 1% to $1 billion between Q2 '05 and Q3 '05, and is expected to increase 21% by Q3 '06. Annual revenue is forecast to grow to $6 billion in 2008.

The report highlighted that, Cisco leads the overall network security appliances and software market with 35% of total revenue, Check Point is second with 10%, Juniper is third with 8%.

VPN and firewall appliances and software make up 77% of revenue, IDS/IPS 14%, and gateway anti-virus 9%; by 2008, IDS/IPS will make up 15%, gateway anti-virus 12%.

Network Security Appliances and Software tracks VPN and firewall appliances in six price-banded categories, hardware secure routers, SSL VPN gateways, VPN and firewall software, host- and network-based IDS/IPS products, and gateway anti-virus products.

"There is a lot of talk in the security market about 'network access control'," said Jeff Wilson, Principal Analyst at Infonetics Research. "NAC is really the holy grail of network security, and is no simple feat, as it will impact all types of products, from client software, to security appliances, to network infrastructure, to the back-end. NAC implementations will drive purchases of network integrated security products, SSL VPN products, and an emerging category of NAC controller appliances, all of which we will track closely with this service moving forward."

Infonetics Research is a market research and consulting firm specializing in data networking and telecom, providing a complete view of the market through constant interaction with equipment manufacturers, service providers, end-users, chip and component manufacturers, sales channels, and the financial community.