* Sales of SSL gear outpacing rest of market
Secure Sockets Layer remote access equipment is gaining on IPSec gear as a way to make secure IP connections over the Internet.
The quarterly VPN and Firewall Appliances and Software report from Infonetics says that, overall, the market was down 1%, but SSL remote access gear grew 10% between the first and second quarters of this year.
The report blames the overall downturn on bad quarters turned in by two of the major vendors, Cisco and Nokia. But even so, the report projects that SSL remote access gear will grow 92% by the second quarter of next year, which will far outstrip the growth by the market as a whole.
That growth is dramatic, but because SSL is still a relatively young remote access method, rapid growth is to be expected. It’s a lot easier to achieve 10% growth on a small base than it is on a large one.
Overall, SSL appliances amounted to $28.9 million of the $722.5 million in appliance sales reported on in the second quarter by Infonetics. That is, SSL claims just 4% of sales in this category, but that will grow to 13% by 2007, the report says.
The research firm notes that while doing well in the U.S., SSL remote access gear fares less well worldwide, but it doesn’t speculate on why.
The study also says Juniper Networks, which has bought SSL remote access technology to augment its IPSec VPN gear, is the standout company for sales of SSL gear, “a market that they are beginning to run away with.”
Overall, Juniper’s sales of VPN appliances ranks third behind Cisco and Check Point, the study says.
