IDC Rpt on Firewall Mkt 8/4/98

[Vin McLellan <vin () shore net>]

<fyi: Wit, Wisdom & Pat McGovern's Crystal Balls in Framingham. _Vin>

"Worldwide Firewall Revenues Grow 143% from 1996 to 1997, IDC Study Finds
Latest IDC Research Indicates Market to Reach $1.8 Billion by 2002  "

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- During a year highlighted by
mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs, firewall vendors experienced strong revenue
growth, according to a new report published by International Data
Corporation (IDC). This research reveals that from 1996 to 1997 overall
firewall revenues grew 143 percent. The rapid growth of this market was
driven by businesses upgrading their firewalls as the Internet matured and
by a demand for multiple Internet firewalls to provide companies with high
availability and throughput. In addition, a steady use of firewalls on
intranets, and a steep growth in the use of extranets and virtual private
networks (VPNs), contributed to this tremendous revenue increase.

Although IDC forecasts the firewall market to reach $1.8 billion by 2002,
this research indicates revenue growth will gradually slow over the next few
years. The United States will remain the strongest market, but the European
and Asia/Pacific markets will grow much faster as a percentage of worldwide
sales.

"For all these rosy forecasts, we believe the firewall market and all its
major vendors are migrating toward a broader orientation," said Chris
Christiansen, director of IDC's Internet Security research services. "In the
short term, we expect firewalls to become platforms for the deployment of
other products such as VPNs, authentication, public key infrastructures and
enterprise security suites." IDC believes longer term, the firewall will
diminish as a distinct market and become a feature of other products.

IDC found the top vendors in the 1996 firewall market retained their
leadership positions in 1997. Check Point Software Technologies remained
number one with a 23 percent share of the market. Cisco Systems gained sole
possession of the number two spot with a 19 percent share. AXENT
Technologies (which acquired Raptor Systems) garnered seven percent followed
by Network Associates (acquired Trusted Information Systems) and CyberGuard
with a six percent and a five percent market share respectively.

The Worldwide Firewall Market, 1997 (IDC #B16557) is based on IDC's firewall
market survey, which counts factory revenues. IDC considers factory revenues
the better indicator of vendor success in the market because it concentrates
on software that was paid for and is more likely to be used. The study
provides a worldwide firewall vendor revenue ranking by vendor for 1997, and
worldwide firewall revenues by region from 1997 to 2002. It provides a
market segmentation analysis including an examination of buying pressure
shifts, performance, consolidation, and criteria for successful
acquisitions. Finally, the report provides profiles of the major firewall
vendors.

The report is available for purchase by contacting Cheryl Toffel at
508-935-4389 or via email at ctoffel () idc com.

About IDC

Headquartered in Framingham, Mass., International Data Corporation provides
IT market research and consulting to more than 3,900 high-technology
customers around the world. With a global network of 375 analysts in more
than 40 countries, IDC is the industry's most comprehensive resource on
worldwide IT markets, products, vendors, and geographies.

IDC/LINK, an IDC subsidiary, researches and analyzes the home computing
market, leading-edge technologies in telecommunications and new media, and
the convergence of computing and consumer electronics.

IDC's World Wide Web site (http://www.idc.com) contains additional company
information and recent news releases, and offers full-text searching of
recent research


-----
      Vin McLellan + The Privacy Guild + <vin () shore net>
  53 Nichols St., Chelsea, MA 02150 USA <617> 884-5548
                         -- <@><@> --