Networking major Cisco is leading the web security-as-a-service (SaaS) providers’ market, according to market research firm Infonetics Research.

There is a tight race for leadership among the top 5 web security SaaS providers – Cisco, McAfee, Symantec, Websense, and zScaler. The difference between 1st and 5th place in the Infonetics Research vendor matrix comes down to small variations in brand presence, security profile, strategy, capabilities, and financial stability.

Cisco is leading the Infonetics’ web security SaaS provider scorecard overall, in large part because of its product offering with unique features, such as integration with Cisco routers.

There is a tie for the second position with McAfee and Symantec are behind Cisco, each scoring stronger or weaker than the other in some areas.

Websense and zScaler are the only standalone web security player and the sole SaaS-only player in the top 5. They will have the potential to remain strong players in the web security SaaS arena. However, both need to compete with security profile and brand presence of Cisco, McAfee, and Symantec.

Infonetics’ Worldwide Web Security SaaS Provider Scorecard include Cisco, McAfee, Symantec, Websense, and zScaler, with additional commentary on other web security SaaS providers such as Blue Coat and Barracuda. The leadership scorecard identifies providers’ strengths and weaknesses, and ranks the top web security SaaS providers based on criteria critical to determining market leadership.

These factors are valued differently from buyer to buyer, making for some very interesting competition between vendors,” said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research.

The leadership scorecard identifies providers’ strengths and weaknesses, and ranks the top web security SaaS providers based on criteria critical to determining market leadership, including security brand presence, security profile, financial stability, market strategy, and service capabilities.

A Messaging Security SaaS Provider Scorecard was published by Infonetics in May 2011. Both scorecards are part of Infonetics’ Managed Security Services and SaaS market size and forecast service, which will be published again September 8, 2011.

By Telecomlead.com Team
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