Demand for security appliances is going through the roof, with western European sales of the devices predicted to reach over $1.4bn in 2009, up from around $625m in 2004.

According to a newly released IDC study, the sector is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent.

Of the three security appliance categories covered in the study - firewall/VPN, intrusion detection and prevention (ID&P), and unified threat management (UTM) - the latter is expected to exhibit the strongest growth, enjoying a rate of 61 per cent between 2004 and 2009.

"There will be a significant shift in the western European security appliance landscape over the forecast period," said Oliver Harcourt, senior research analyst for European enterprise server solutions at IDC.

"In 2004, firewall/VPN security appliances dominated the market as the primary category, but over the forecast period its share of the market will be cannibalised by ID&P and in particular UTM appliances as they exhibit stronger growth.

"In 2009, UTM security appliances will be the primary category, constituting around 50 per cent of western European security appliance revenue."

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