VPN and firewall sales up 13%

According to data from market share and forecast firm Infonetics Research, the application security gateway market also grew, with worldwide revenue up at $22 million in the fourth quarter.

"The VPN and firewall market was able to grow despite technology shifts and a rocky economy," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research. "The appliance market will continue steady growth through at least 2006, as there are still new vendors entering the market, and plenty of innovation and price pressure to make this market interesting. Juniper's acquisition of NetScreen will make for a very exciting battle between Cisco and Juniper in the years to come."

Results also found that Cisco was the revenue-leading vendor in the VPN and firewall market, followed by Check Point and NetScreen.