10/19/2010 -- Cisco Systems Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and Juniper Networks continue to lead the way in a robust network security market segment.

All three vendors turned in better-than-expected showings in Q2, with Cisco shrugging off supply chain issues that had previously curtailed its ability to meet demand. The upshot, according to market-watcher Infonetics Research, is that Cisco's back on track, Juniper and Check Point are firing on all cylinders, and there's plenty of room for growth in a predictably robust network security market.

"As we expected, the network security appliance and software market mostly followed normal seasonal patterns in the second quarter, growing slightly over the first quarter," said Infonetics analyst Jeff Wilson, in a statement. "Cisco emerged from the component supply issues reported last quarter and noted that all security products are now shipping with standard lead times. Juniper and Check Point both saw growth across a wide variety of product types, customer segments, and geographies, with no one major contributor to strength in 2Q10."

Sales of network security software and appliances didn't take as much of a hit as did sales of other IT products (cough, servers), but the network security segment still experienced sluggish growth in the year-ago quarter. (For a bit of perspective, server sales dropped to an all-time low in Q2 of 2009.)

Things looked much better in Q2 of 2010, Wilson indicated: "Looking back a year to the pit of the recession, this market is up 21 percent from 2Q09."

Juniper recorded a double-digit bump in growth, boosting its revenues by almost 12 percent; Check Point, for its part, nearly posted a double-digit (9 percent) uptick in sales, while Cisco recorded a market-outpacing 8.3 increase in revenues. The worldwide network security market grew by 7 percent in Q2, according to Infonetics, totaling $1.4 billion.

If Infonetics is correct, network security should continue to be a reliable cash cow for Cisco and its competitors over the next half-decade. By 2014, according to Infonetics, the network security segment will have neatly quintupled in size, growing to nearly $7 billion.
--By Stephen Swoyer