Pandemic squashed network security market Y/Y revenue growth flat, according to Dell’Oro group

According to a recently published report from Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT industries, COVID-19 upset IT security spending as enterprises reacted.  With employees forced to work from home and many enterprises lacking sufficient teleworker capacity, this drove reactionary spending in content security products and its sharped 16 percent Y/Y revenue increase in 1Q 2020, to $484 M.  Conversely, postponement of non-critical network infrastructure projects led to a marked deceleration of the total firewall market, as Y/Y revenue was down 2 percent in 1Q 2020, to $2.2 B.

“The network security market was not immune to the pandemic in 1Q 2020,” said Mauricio Sanchez, Research Director, Network Security and Data Center Appliances. “We expect the pandemic to continue to cause revenue lumpiness for the rest of 2020, with winners and losers like in 1Q 2020, but anticipate that the high priority placed on security will help drive the market gradually back into it a growth pattern.”

Additional highlights from the 1Q 2020 Network Security & Data Center Appliances Quarterly Report:

• Cisco’s content security businesses were up 29 percent Y/Y, to $164 M, and remained the revenue market leader with 34 percent share.
• Firewall revenue market share for Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, and Fortinet combined for over half of the market, while Check Point, Juniper, and Huawei totaled over 15 percent for the trailing four quarters ending in 1Q 2020.

-DellOro