F5 dominates niche market according to Infonetics Research Report

📅 February 25, 2002 - F5 Networks, Inc. (f5.com -> hostinger.com), a provider of Internet traffic and content management (iTCM) products, today announced that the maintains its position on top of the worldwide market share for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) acceleration hardware.

Infonetics Research1 reported that F5's 74% revenue market share and 57% unit market share, indicates that it leads multi-purpose devices with SSL hardware acceleration in the second half 2001. Infonetics reports on and forecasts trends in worldwide server peripheral cards, dedicated SSL appliances, and multi-purpose devices with hardware-based SSL capabilities.
Revenue for the multi-purpose SSL acceleration hardware market grew 93% and unit shipments grew 29% between the first and second half of 2001. Infonetics predicts 80% revenue growth and 31% unit growth, because it says companies that want to secure valuable content on their sites are using SSL.
"Early on F5 had anticipated customers' business-critical SSL needs by integrating SSL acceleration into their BIG-IP Application Switches, putting F5 in an enviable market position," said Neil Osipuk, Directing Analyst at Infonetics Research. "Their recent move of adding a FIPS 140-1 Level 3 certified SSL accelerator as an integrated option of their Internet traffic management solutions is an example of how F5 has expanded their SSL acceleration offering to help customers deploy highly secure web services."
SSL termination is insufficient for financial institutions and government organizations that are affected by regulations like FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard). Such regulations impose much higher level of security guidelines, creating a niche market for FIPS certified SSL accelerators.