Survey finds 40/100G network upgrades forcing enterprises to boost firewall security
Infonetics Research recently conducted a survey exploring the drivers, strategies and technology choices that are shaping enterprises’ use of high-end firewalls. The firm says the results indicate that "buyers have a need for speed." According to the survey, upgrading to high-speed network interfaces on security appliances was named as the number one driver for investing in high-end firewalls by over three-quarters of enterprises surveyed.
“Without a doubt, the move to faster network technologies is forcing enterprises to look at upgrading every moving part of their IT infrastructure, firewalls included,” says Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research. “Many enterprise buyers are eyeing firewall products with 100G-plus aggregate throughput and support for 40G and 100G ports over the next year.”
In the survey, security led the list of criteria for selecting a high-end firewall supplier by a wide margin. 57% of respondents said they plan to spend $500,000 or more on high-end firewalls in 2014, signifying a shift to higher spending categories. Infonetics expects 2013 to bring market share changes as Fortinet, Check Point, Palo Alto, and Dell SonicWALL get their high-end firewall offerings into more data center and large campus deals, while Cisco and Juniper continue to fend off challengers.
New for 2013, Infonetics’ 16-page High-End Firewall Strategies and Vendor Leadership: North American Enterprise Survey is based on interviews with purchase-decision makers at 104 large organizations that have deployed high-end firewalls. The report covers high-end firewall purchase drivers, interface speeds, throughput requirements and spending plans. The study includes a vendor scorecard with enterprises’ ratings of firewall manufacturers (Barracuda Networks, Crossbeam/Blue Coat, Huawei, Sourcefire, Stonesoft, WatchGuard).
