Sluggish High-End Firewall Sales in 3Q 2023 Weigh Down Network Security Market, According to Dell'Oro Group

Robust Enterprise Sales Keep Palo Alto Networks at Number One for Twelfth Consecutive Quarter

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recently published report from Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, the $4 billion market for high-end firewalls suffered its third consecutive quarter of year-on-year (Y/Y) declines, which brought down the entire network security market to single-digit Y/Y revenue growth after eleven straight quarters of double-digit growth. Offsetting the decline was strong double-digit growth in the $5 billion midrange firewall market and the $1 billion virtual firewall market.

"Across many technology markets we track, whether security, networking, or servers, we saw a substantial jump in investment by services providers in the year or two following the worst of the pandemic in 2020, which led to massive technology vendor backlogs," said Mauricio Sanchez, Sr. Research Director, Enterprise Networking and Security at Dell'Oro Group. "All that gear has finally been delivered in the past year, and service providers are now suffering indigestion to deploy. Fortunately, enterprise spending remained robust in midrange firewalls which helped weather the storm," added Sanchez.

Additional highlights from the 3Q 2023 Network Security Quarterly Report:

• The worldwide firewall market was above $3 B for the fifth consecutive quarter, although it declined Y/Y for the first time since 3Q 2020 due to the 21 percent decline in high-end firewalls.
• The top 4 firewall vendors (Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, Fortinet, and Check Point) owned nearly 70 percent of the firewall market.
• Palo Alto Networks held the number one revenue position with 28 percent, over 10 percent greater than number two Cisco. 
• Revenue in the worldwide WAF (Web Applications Firewall) market accelerated for the second consecutive quarter with a 16 percent rise.

About the Report
The Dell'Oro Group Network Security Report includes manufacturers' revenue covering the ADC, Firewall, SSE, traditional SWG appliances, and WAF product segments. Moreover, SSEs are further broken down across four primary functions: CASB, FWaaS, SWG, and ZTNA. The report also splits many segments by form factor: physical, virtual, and SaaS. To purchase this report, please contact us at [email protected].

About Dell'Oro Group
Dell'Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, security, enterprise networks, and data center markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell'Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit https://www.delloro.com. 

SOURCE Dell'Oro Group