1/6/2007 -- It's a good time to be a network security specialist. With worldwide network security appliance and software sales rising by 11 percent between Q2 and Q3 of last year -- and with Q4 revenues expected to increase apace -- the network security segment is sizzling.

That's according to market watcher Infonetics Research, which says the network security appliance and software market could grow by as much as 40 percent between 2005 and 2009, at which point it should top off at $5.48 billion.

"We expect that within the next two years almost every VPN [or] firewall appliance sold will have some form of intrusion prevention and gateway anti-virus integrated in it, and will likely also include other content security features like anti-spam and anti-spyware," said analyst Jeff Wilson in a statement. "On the flip side, we also expect to see quite a few vendors launch new security appliances that focus on application and content security, and consciously omit VPN [or] firewall as a way to breach an established market with entrenched vendors."

Drilling down into the Q3 data, secure routers accounted for 28 percent of total security appliance market revenues. Elsewhere, Infonetics says, worldwide SSL VPN gateway revenues grew by 12 percent in the third quarter -- and are expected to grow 44 percent by Q3 of next year. Infonetics had encouraging news about Cisco Systems Inc., too: the networking giant closed the books on its FY 2006 by making network security gains across the board. Cisco notched 22 percent growth in total revenue (up $84.91 million), and maintained its market share lead in the overall network security market, the researcher confirmed. -- Stephen Swoyer