* Market numbers for SSL VPN gear
SSL VPNs seem to be making significant gains in popularity among business customers, according to a new study by Synergy Research Group.
The study tracks growth in various segments of the security market in two ways: growth over the previous year and growth over the previous quarter. It finds that SSL VPN sales in the second quarter of this year were up 40% over the same quarter the previous year, and up 11% over the first quarter of this year.
The quarter-over-quarter results are even more dramatic because generally second-quarter sales of security products are flat, says Aaron Vance, a senior analyst at Synergy.
The reason for this increase is probably threefold. First, despite being around for a while, SSL VPNs really haven’t saturated potential customers as much as IPSec VPNs, which have been around longer. So large percentage growth is easier to accomplish.
Second, businesses are seeking more flexible remote-access methods, Vance says, and SSL VPNs allow at least some access from almost any machine, and can offer full, network-layer access to corporate-controlled computers.
Third, given these advantages, some customers – Vance doesn’t say how many – are replacing their remote-access IPSec gear with SSL equipment.
This type of news is very exciting to companies that sell SSL gear, but is also important to potential customers who have to make tough decisions about which technologies to buy to protect their networks. It’s reassuring to know that others are coming to the same conclusions.
The results, particularly the IPSec replacement aspect, seem to verify what SSL vendors claim – that their products can take the place of IPSec by offering full network access, but also offer more finely controlled access to particular network resources.
The study also found that VPN software in conjunction with firewalls and other security technology continues to grow rapidly.
Looking at the year between the second quarter of 2004 and the second quarter of 2005, sales of such devices has grown 18%. Customers bought 3% more in the second quarter of this year than in the first, a modest increase but significant because generally there is no growth between those two quarters, Vance says.
Synergy also publishes which SSL vendors are selling the most gear. The top five in order are Juniper, F5, Nortel, Aventail and Whale. The results represent a two-slot jump for Nortel, up from number five. Aventail and Whale each slipped a notch.
