Data center virtualization drives up adoption of next-gen firewalls

As businesses continue to consolidate their data centers and adopt virtualization, software-defined networking (SDN) and cloud computing, the use of next-gen firewalls is rising, says a new ABI Research report.

Companies deploying virtualized data centers are turning to next-generation firewalls (NGFW) in order to protect, scale and evolve with whatever virtualization needs an organization has.

While still a developing segment, ABI said that there is a niche market for NGWF for virtualized data centers, valued at $375,000 in 2014.

"NGFWs deliver much more granular control than traditional firewalls by being application and user aware, which in turn ensures better security without impacting user productivity," says Monolina Sen, ABI Research's senior analyst in cybersecurity.

A number of service providers and traditional vendors, including Trend Micro, Cisco, Imperva, NTT Com Security, Centrify and Veeam Software, have emerged as key players in the data-center virtualization security market.

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
Data center SDN sales will jump 65% this year, says Dell'Oro Group
Integra serves up new dedicated 100G routes
Cisco commits $1B to build Intercloud network, adds 30 new partners