Enterprise security to grow 8%; IBM has high hopes for cloud services

BYOD drives rise in enterprise network security: As more workers bring their own mobile devices into the workplace, a trend known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), enterprises are rethinking their network security plans. Because of this, Infonetics Research forecasts that spending on network security appliances will grow 8 percent in 2012 to battle an ever-growing array of security threats. "The consumerization of smartphones and the proliferation of smartphones, iPads, netbooks, and other mobile devices connected 24/7 to the Internet are driving companies to reassess how critical infrastructure in HQ, branch offices, remote offices, and data centers is protected from malware," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics. In Q4 2011, the global network security appliance and software market grew 8 percent in to $1.58 billion. Leading the charge for network security appliance sales was Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), whose revenues rose 11 percent in Q4 2011. Following Cisco was Check Point (Nasdaq: CHKP), which beat out Juniper (NYSE: JNPR) for second place as network security appliance and software revenue jumped 19 percent during the quarter. Release

Routers slow down in Q4: While the demand for IP-based routers in Asia Pacific and Latin America remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2011, that growth was offset by slow sales in North America and Europe, two regions where carriers were a bit more cautious with late year spending. As reported in Dell'Oro Group's study, contraction in North America and Europe drove the router market down 7 percent $2.7 billion in Q4 2011. "From the beginning of 2010 through mid-2011, router sales grew more than 20% each quarter, but started to decelerate last summer," said Shin Umeda, vice president at Dell'Oro, adding that "this is a temporary lull that will carry into the middle of this year, and we expect the market growth to accelerate in the second half of the year." The top five Service Provider Router vendors for Q4 2011, in ranking order, are Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Huawei, and Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC). Release

Cloud deployment set for major growth: An IBM (NYSE: IBM) survey says that while only 13 percent of businesses are using cloud-based services, that number will grow to 41 percent by 2015. In its survey of 572 business and IT leaders, Big Blue addressed what's prompting businesses to adopt cloud services and which ones have adopted a cloud strategy. Of the survey respondents, 72 percent said they had some use of cloud technology, while 38 percent said they have done a cloud pilot, and 21 percent said they have adopted a cloud platform. However, 90 percent of the respondents said that over the course of the next three years they plan to be involved in cloud activities. Article