The South African security appliances market declined 10.3% in value year on year during Q4 2013 to total $12.25 million, according to market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC).<\/p>\n
A security appliance is defined as any form of server appliance that is designed to protect computer networks from unwanted traffic.<\/p>\n
The IDC predicts that the market’s value will increase at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5% to total $66.85 million in 2018, up from $48.75 million in 2013.<\/p>\n
The decline in the market’s value was primarily caused by consumer budget constraints and the South African rand depreciating more than 18% against the U.S. dollar in 2013.<\/p>\n
Despite this, Fortinet, Juniper, Cisco, and CheckPoint all maintained their leading market positions, collectively representing about 61% of the market’s value share in Q4 2013.<\/p>\n
Together, firewalls and unified threat management (UTM) appliances increased their contribution to the security appliances market in Q4 2013, generating 15.0% and 59.6%, respectively, of the total market value.<\/p>\n
The corresponding value contributions of content management and intrusion detection and prevention (IDP) appliances amounted to 11.5% and 6.2%, respectively. Given the current cost-reduction and unification trends, demand for content management and IDP integrated into UTM and next-generation firewall appliances is set to increase.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, market demand for standalone versions of VPN, IDP, and content management appliances is expected to concentrate on the medium to high-end range.<\/p>\n
In Q4 2013, 2,934 units of security appliances were shipped to South Africa. Total annual shipments are expected to increase from 10,847 units in 2013 to 16,667 units in 2018, representing a five-year CAGR of 9.0%.<\/p>\n
“The trend toward market consolidation continues, with UTM vendor Sophos acquiring close competitor Cyberoam in February 2014,” said Jiaqi Sun, a research analyst at IDC South Africa. “This acquisition will further strengthen Sophos\u2019s capability to offer a comprehensive range of security solutions and expand its customer base in emerging markets, including South Africa.”<\/p>\n
“Cost-effective UTM appliances will continue to gain traction in the largely untapped small and medium-sized business segment, where most customers still rely on traditional firewalls embedded in their network routers,” Sun said.<\/p>\n
SA IT firms to up security spend<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n