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The increasing acceptance of remote work and the adoption of cloud, the remote workplace, collaboration and security are driving growth in the Asia Pacific network security market, new research suggests.
The emergency adoption of remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to investments in upgrading security control systems to protect remote employees, according to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.
As a result, the analyst firm claimed, the buoyant market is estimated to hit US$7.32 billion by 2025, from US$5.12 billion in 2020, registering steady growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4 per cent.
While the pandemic-prompted remote working trend has been a big driver for the network security market as a whole, an increased number of highly sophisticated cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and government organisations has also helped to drive organisations and businesses in the region to increase investment in cyber security technologies.
Breaking down the regional network security market into subsegments, Frost & Sullivan said it expected the network firewall segment to continue to be the driving force for the overall network security sector in the years to come, with a solid CAGR of 7.7 per cent from 2020 to 2025.
Meanwhile, stronger demand for secure software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and secure cloud edge services solutions is becoming a new driving force for the segment, which in turn drives greater adoption of edge security solutions.
At the same time, the secure sockets layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) segment is expected to maintain its solid growth momentum, mainly driven by the increasing need for high-performance, secure remote access that the analyst firm claimed has been soaring due to work-from-home policies prompted by the pandemic. This will be particularly noticeable in the next one to two years.
However, the demand for standalone intrusion detection systems and intrusion prevention systems (IDS/IPS) is likely to witness a slowdown in the years to come due to the broader technology consolidation trend, which Frost & Sullivan claimed leads to many businesses either using IDS/IPS as-a-service or tapping into features on other integrated security platforms.
In the future, the analysit firm noted, it is likely that standalone IDS/IPS projects may only take place among large businesses with complex IT infrastructure and strong priority on threat management, such as government and large banks and financial institutions.
"From a technology perspective, as demand for secure software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) and secure cloud edge services solutions soars, the network firewall segment will continue to be the leading force for the overall NWS [network security] market growth over the forecast period," said Vivien Pua, information and communication technology industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
"Similarly, the secure remote access segment is expected to maintain its strong growth momentum, mainly fuelled by the increasing need for high-performance, secure remote access that has been soaring due to work-from-home environments,” she added.
Earlier this year, fellow analyst firm IDC suggested spending on security hardware, services and software in the Asia Pacific region could reach US$23.1 billion in 2021.
According to IDC, the anticipated security investment in the region this year represented an increase of 12.6 per cent over the previous year.
Moreover, IDC said it expected investment on security related products and services to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.3 per cent over the forecast period, from 2019 to 2024, and reach US$35 billion by 2024.
A combination of factors is driving the growth, IDC claimed, including increased cloud adoption, unprecedented work from home migration and transformation projects by enterprises to overcome operational challenges.
“2020 defined the importance of digital for everyone globally, but it also highlighted shortcomings in security strategies,” said IDC Asia Pacific trust, security and blockchain research vice president Simon Piff, at the time.
“While leading organisations are starting to adopt a more platform-based approach, the majority are still buying point-solutions to address specific concerns.
“This majority needs to change their mindset and invest more strategically into their security architectures,” he added.
