Cisco, Check Point, Sophos Among Major Next-Gen Firewall Vendors

The global next-generation firewall market is expected to grow from nearly $2.4 billion this year to $4.27 billion by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3 percent, with Cisco Systems, Check Point Software and Sophos among the major vendors.

That’s according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Other leading vendors include Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Barracuda Networks, Forcepoint, Zscaler, Juniper Networks and WatchGuard Technologies.

The major forces driving the market are the increased adoption of bring your own device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT), increasing internal and external threats, and basic improvements in firewall offerings. For these reasons, enterprises are deploying next-generation firewall services to secure networks and endpoints from cyber threats.

The professional-services segment is expected to have the largest share and dominate the market from 2017 to 2022, as more companies are adopting offerings to secure their business infrastructure from advanced threats such as ransomware, APTs, zero-day attacks, malware and unauthorized access. The market for services is growing as individuals, SMEs and large enterprises are concerned about secured access to their networking devices.

The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) vertical is expected to grow at the fastest rate in the next-generation firewall market. The increase in digital identities in all sizes of organizations, and the growing trend of BYOD and IoT are prompting massive growth in advanced cyberattacks.

North America is expected to have the largest market share and dominate the market over the next five years, due to the presence of a large number of vendors across this region. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, offers potential growth opportunities as there is a wide presence of SMEs in this region that are turning toward next-generation firewall services to defend against APTs.