Infonetics Research says NAC market is down but not out

Market research firm Infonetics Research released the first edition of its biannual NAC Enforcement Appliances report.

Jeff Wilson, Infonetics Research’s Principal Analyst for Network Security commented the findings:

While the impact of the global economic recession on the overall network security market was minor compared to many other segments in the IT market at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, the NAC market was hit dead-on.

The real bloodbath took place in the last 3 months of 2008, when worldwide NAC enforcement appliance revenue dropped 32% from the previous quarter, spurred by the financial services meltdown that started in late September. The financial services vertical is the single largest early-adopter for NAC solutions, and the lack of financial services spending was felt directly by every single NAC vendor.

The market was down again in 1Q09, but by a much lesser degree, and we expect the market to pick back up in 2010.

NAC enforcement appliances market highlights

In 1Q09, worldwide NAC enforcement appliance revenue was down 7% over 4Q08 (4Q08 was down 32% from 3Q08). Despite 2 quarters in a row of revenue and unit shipment declines, the NAC enforcement appliance market is expected to bounce back and grow in the strong double-digit percentages annually from at least 2010 to 2013

The most important drivers for deploying NAC solutions in large part are divorced from macroeconomic drivers, and will propel the market to growth in the long-term:

• Regulation and compliance
• Explosive growth in the number, variety, and volume of threats
• Security investment as a cost-saving measure
• Service provider spending on security