Juniper loses ground as integratred security platforms surge

Stand-alone products losing popularity, Infonetics Research claims

Juniper lost more ground to security market rivals as sales of integrated platforms continued to eat into those of stand-alone solutions.

According to data from Infonetics Research the total global worth of the network security and security software market grew four per cent sequentially in Q2 to $1.6bn (£1bn). This also represents a rise on the $1.5bn posted in the corresponding period in 2012. Integrated appliances gained share from stand-alone products, as they have done in every quarter since Q4 2011. The market watcher expects more gains in every quarter up until at least Q2 2014.

During this year's second quarter Cisco, Check Point, Fortinet, HP and Palo Alto all enjoyed "strong revenue results in the network security market", according to Infonetics. But Juniper fared less well, with the vendor seeing its security sales erode for the fourth consecutive quarter. However, the analyst expects Q2 2013 to represent the company's nadir, with revenue expected to bounce back from this quarter onwards.

Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics, said: "There's never been a time when the world was more tuned-in to broad privacy and security issues, and with the recent revelations about the NSA's PRISM surveillance programme, consumers and businesses around the globe are re-evaluating their security posture, preferred vendors, and deployment strategies.

"While it's too early to say if the NSA debacle will have an impact on security spending, one trend in the security sector is clear: buyers are looking to consolidate security platforms wherever they can. The resulting contraction in stand-alone security products is directly attributed to two things: customers moving to integrated product solutions that support the functions of the original standalone products with adequate performance and security, and customers transitioning away from product-centric security rollouts to hosted/SaaS solutions."