Infonetics Finds Cisco Clearly Leads IPS Market

By Doug Allen

Perhaps surprisingly, Cisco is the clear leader of the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) market, according to the latest findings from consultancy Infonetics Research. Thirty-eight percent of respondents surveyed in a new report found that Cisco was among the top three IPS equipment vendors.

However, many respondents indicated they have not yet decided upon an IPS vendor for future deployments, leaving the door open to Ciscos rivals as they pursue the relatively small but rapidly growing market; Infonetics pegs revenues to spike from roughly $800 million for 2009 to slightly over $1.2 billion by 2014.

Cisco is without a doubt the leader in the intrusion prevention system market, said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst, security, at Infonetics Research. In a very short time, Cisco went from being severely underestimated as an IPS player to leading IPS revenue share and brand awareness. McAfee, IBM ISS,  Sourcefire, and TippingPoint (post HP integration) have the best chance of competing head-to-head with Cisco for pure IPS sales over the next two years, but we expect Cisco to maintain the lead in market share and brand awareness as long as they remain interested in offering pure IPS solutions.

Infonetics based its conclusions on poll results taken from a number of IT managers with purchasing power at 105 North American companies with 100 employees or more about their buying strategies, deployment issues pro and con, and vendors. The report, entitled IPS Product Vendor Ratings: North American Enterprise Survey, looked at nine IPS vendors: Check Point, Cisco, Enterasys, and IBM ISS, Juniper Networks, McAfee, Sourcefire, Symantec and TippingPoint. Evaluation criteria included technology, product roadmap, security management, price-to-performance ratio, pricing, financial stability, service and support.