CCID Reviews China’s Network Security Market: Technology Spurs Product Upgrades

BEIJING, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- CCID Consulting, China’s leading research, consulting and IT outsourcing service provider, and the first Chinese consulting firm listed in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: HK08235), recently released its article on China’s network security market.

As the Beijing Olympics ended with success in 2008, the development of the Olympics’ network facilities raised awareness of governments and enterprises for information security, and in the meantime, increased demand for network security equipment. But, affected by the financial crisis, the growth rate of global economy slowed down and enterprises’ cash flow declined. All these factors put strains on enterprise investment in network security development. The slowdown in China’s overall export market, the decline in economic growth rate, and sagging demands in the whole information industry have had a certain impact on the market of network security equipment. The following characteristics of network security equipment in 2008 are reflected by looking back on the market:

Slowdown in SMEs’ demands

The economic slowdown in China is putting more pressure on the rapid growth of small and medium enterprises (SME) in China. The capital statement in SMEs determines that more restraints exist in their investment to information security which affects their deployment of network security equipment. In addition, the limited investment by SMEs more often than not is the result of them putting more focus on inputting hardware facilities and less on management and implementation, with limited funds invested in local network security development. All these factors led to the declined demands and slow-down growth in SMEs’ network security equipment market of China in 2008.

Demands are still strong in large enterprises and government institutions

In spite of the impact of financial crisis and economic slowdown on the growth of SMEs, this impact is far less on governments and large enterprises. Especially at this time when the information security awareness of governments and large enterprises increases constantly, acceleration of information security development has become an urgent task. Meanwhile, to drive the economic growth and mitigate the impact of export market slowdown, the Chinese government will step up investment in infrastructure. Information security in the information industry, government and research institutions, as well as the security development of telecom operators and financial institutions will become the investment priorities in network security development.

At present, the ripple of financial crisis is still fanning out, the Chinese economy is slowing down and the Chinese government is adopting various measures to drive internal demands. In the area of network equipment security, industry users represented by the telecom and financial sectors are stepping up their purchases of high-end security equipment and efforts in upgrading their existing equipment. Compared with the rapid development of networks in China, the pace of network security equipment development has lagged behind that of network equipment, making it the major factor in restraining network bandwidth. It is predicted that network security technology and equipment will develop in the following directions in the next few years:

10 GB products lead the future market

Driven by the twin wheels of market and technology, 10 GB-class network security products have been formally brought to the Chinese market. Though currently 10 GB-class network security equipment hasn’t completely replaced 1GB-class equipment and its market has yet to be developed, vendors are keeping an eye on the above-10GB-class products with fast improvement in network capabilities. In 2008, H3C officially rolled out industry-leading high-performance firewall equipment, SecPath F5000-A5, which was soon put into actual applications. The equipment has become one of the best representatives of high-end products due to its innovative technical structure and

above-10GB-class security and protection capabilities. It is predicted that the door to the market of above-10GB-class network security equipment will be gradually opened in the next few years, and the market will become a main battleground for major vendors of network security equipment.

Proactive defense products go to market

The concept of proactive defense has made its rounds for quite some time, however, obstacles to proactive defense products going to the market have long existed. The key factor preventing the proactive defense concept from being translated into products is the intelligentization of equipment. Currently, network security equipment with capabilities of intelligent screening, threat identifying and testing, and proactive risk prevention are far from mature. However, with rapid technology upgrading in the coming years, proactive defense products equipped with major capabilities such as automatic monitoring, analysis and diagnosis of programs will be gradually improved and integrated with traditional network security equipment, and network defense capabilities will be enhanced. Given that proactive defense can improve the efficiency of security policy execution and play a positive role in enterprises’ promotion of network security, it is inevitable that proactive defense technology will ultimately go to market, especially for products that can effectively and accurately implement proactive defense against malicious attacks such as viruses, worms and Trojans.

Integration of security technology is highly valued

With the constant evolution of network technology and fast improvement in network penetration, networks are facing greater potential threats, and a single protection and defense product can no longer satisfy market demands. Developing integrated solutions for network security has become an inevitable trend, and customer demand for practical, effective and integrated security solutions has become increasingly urgent. Integrated security solutions require that products become more integrated, intelligent and easier to manage. In the next few years, integrated network security solutions will be the major means for vendors engaged in differentiation competition.

In the final analysis, the rapid advancement of network equipment capabilities and technologies owes much to users’ increased demands for network capabilities and applications. Only through constant improvement in capability and continuous breakthroughs can network security equipment achieve real network-class high performance; this also objectively reflects the performance indicator trend in the current security field.

About CCID Consulting

CCID Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter known as CCID Consulting), the first Chinese consulting firm listed in the Growth Enterprise Market of the Stock Exchange (GEM) of Hong Kong (stock code: 8235.HK), is directly affiliated with China Center for Information Industry Development (hereinafter known as CCID Group). Headquartered in Beijing, CCID Consulting has so far set up branch offices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Chengdu, with over 300 professional consultants after many years of development. The company’s business scope has covered over 200 large and medium-sized cities in China.

Based on major areas of competitiveness: industrial resources, information technology and data channels, CCID Consulting provides customers with public policy establishment, industry competitiveness upgrading, development strategy and planning, marketing strategy and research, HR management, IT programming and management. CCID Consulting’s customers range from industrial users in electronics, telecommunications, energy, finance, automobile, to government departments at all levels and diversified industrial parks. CCID Consulting commits itself to becoming the No. 1 advisor for enterprise management, the No. 1 consultancy for government decisions and the No. 1 brand for informatization consulting.

For more information, please contact:

Cynthia Liu

Coordinating Manager

CCID Consulting Co., Ltd.

Tel: +86-10-8855-9080

Email: liuyan@ccidconsulting.com