7/24/2012 -- Thanks both to the strength of its brand and the depth of its product portfolio, Cisco Systems Inc. is tops in the web security-as-a-service (SaaS) space.

According to market watcher Infonetics Research, Cisco achieved an almost perfect score -- 57 out of 60 -- in its annual Web SaaS scorecard, which ranks Web SaaS providers based on their security profiles, brand presences, product offerings, and other criteria.

"Thanks to its good security profile, great brand presence, and strong product offering, Cisco tops our worldwide scorecard for web security SaaS for the second year in a row," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research, in a prepared release.

In spite of its dominant showing, Cisco probably can't afford to rest on its laurels.

After all, Symantec Corp. probably has as much brand recognition as Cisco. In the security space, in fact, it arguably has even more. But Symantec finished third in this year's tally, tied with McAfee. Both vendors were leapfrogged by upstart competitor zScalar.

"[C]ompetition in this space remains fierce, with zScaler, McAfee, and Symantec in a virtual dead heat for the number-two spot, and newcomers Blue Coat and Barracuda positioned to make waves," Wilson indicated. "With very little standing between first and last place in our vendor matrix, we expect this jostling to continue for the foreseeable future."

Unlike rivals Symantec Corp. and McAfee, Cisco never had a dominant client security software practice. As a result, it's had less trouble promoting its cloud-based SaaS offerings. Both Symantec and McAfee, on the other hand, "face the long-term challenge transitioning from [selling] client software to [selling] cloud-based security services," Infonetics reports.

ZScaler isn't an immediate threat to Cisco, although it was able to overtake both Symantec and McAfee on the strength of its "growing subscriber base and improvements in the strength of its security profile." All three companies – viz., zScalar, Symantec, and McAfee – are in a virtual dead heat, with the latter two trailing No. 2 zScalar by a single point, Infonetics concludes.
--By Stephen Swoyer