A recent study by International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that both factory revenue and unit shipment growth rose in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12) compared to the previous quarter. Worldwide factory revenue was up 7.2% year on year to $2.3 billion, as shipments increased 5.2% to 538,428 units. In the previous quarter, factory revenue growth was 6.3% and unit growth was 1.3% compared to Q3 2011.
by Oana Coşman
Geographically, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) continued to see the highest growth at 18.0% year over year, with a revenue share of 19.3%. Western Europe growth picked up in the final quarter of 2012, with factory revenue rising 3.9% versus Q4 2011. Japan had the highest unit growth year over year at 25.1%, followed closely by APeJ at 17.4%. The United States recorded 4.1% revenue growth and a unit decrease of 1.1% compared to Q4 2011, indicating some softness in lower price bands and that revenue growth was driven by larger enterprises and service providers.
“Organizations continue to prioritize security within their overall IT budget. With advanced, targeted threats a growing concern, IDC expects continued high single-digit growth in the security appliance segment.”, said said John Grady, research manager, Security Products at IDC.
Concerning the vendors, Cisco continues to lead the overall security appliance market with 15.5% share in factory revenue for the fourth quarter, but this was down from 17.7% in the prior year period. The combined shares of the top 5 global vendors represented 46.3% of the market in Q4 2012 losing 2.6 points compared to a year ago. The share of Others increased primarily due to strong quarters from Blue Coat, Palo Alto Networks, Barracuda, Sourcefire, and Dell SonicWALL.
Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Security Appliance Revenue, Fourth Quarter of 2012 (revenues in $ millions)
Vendor | 4Q12 Revenue | 4Q12 Share | 4Q11 Revenue | 4Q11 Share | 4Q12/4Q11 Growth |
1. Cisco | $351 | 15.5% | $373 | 17.7% | -5.9% |
2. Check Point | $288 | 12.7% | $267 | 12.7% | 7.8% |
3. Juniper | $157 | 6.9% | $168 | 8.0% | -6.9% |
4. Fortinet | $136 | 6.0% | $107 | 5.1% | 27.2% |
5. McAfee | $116 | 5.2% | $117 | 5.6% | -0.9% |
Others | $1,210 | 53.7% | $1,073 | 50.9% | 12.8% |
Total | $2,258 | 100% | $2,105 | 100% | 7.2% |
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker