Gartner SSL VPN Magic Quadrant Trends
In this analysis we highlight the major changes in Gartner's assessments of the North American SSL VPN market and vendor competitiveness from YE2004 thru YE 2007..
Market Perspectives - Dec 2007
2003 | 2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
9 mos 2007 |
|
| Cumulative Seats Sold | |
||||
| Dec 2007 Report | 5.3 M |
3.2 M |
3.7 M |
||
| Dec 2006 Report | 4 M |
2.2 M (9mos) |
|||
| Dec 2005 Report | Less than 3 M |
||||
"Long-term CAGR is forecast to average about 21% through 2011". From 2004 through 2006, inclusively, more than 8.5 million concurrent seats were sold, with more than 3.2 million sold in 2006. Sales in the first three quarters of 2007 are already more than 3.7 million concurrent user seats." (Gartner: SSL VPN Magic Quadrant 3Q2007)
2006: "SSL VPN is a mature and established market. Gartner estimates that more than 4 million concurrent license seats were activated during 2003 thru 2005, and more than 6.2 million concurrent seats thru the 3rd quarter of 2006." (Gartner: SSL VPN Magic Quadrant 3Q2006)
2005: "SSL VPN is a small market but growth has been significant. Gartner estimates that less than 3 million concurrent license seats were activated during the past 3 years."(Gartner: SSL VPN Magic Quadrant 3Q2005)
Competitive Positioning
| 3Q2005 |
3Q2006 |
 |
 |
3Q2007 | |
 | |
| Source: Gartner | |
Primary changes in Gartner's vendor assessments from Dec 2006 to December 2007.
- Juniper remains the overall market leader with no change in its rating
- Sonicwall acquired Aventail and is now a visionary whereas the latter had been a leader.
- F5 and Citrix have improved slightly in their ability to execute, are now both viewed as leaders. However, Citrix has
a significantly higher vision rating.
- Cisco has improved significantly in its ability to execute and is closing in on F5 overall.
- With its acquisition of Whale Microsoft is a visionary lagging only Aventail/SonicWall in vision and then only slightly.
- Array's vision and ability to execute have both improved significantly making it a challenger near the leadership category.
- Nortel's sails have lost some wind in both vision and ability; once almost a leader it is now viewed as a niche player.
- Check Point's ability to execute has slipped yet it remains a visionary
- AEP Network remains a niche player with a lower ability-to-execute rating
- Portwise remains a visonary with a lower ability-to-execute rating
- Caymas has shutdown.
- NeoAccel has appeared as a niche player.
The following table illustrates how each vendor ranks on each axis of the Magic Quadrant.
Key: Green = Top Quartile Pink = 2nd Quartile Orange = 3rd Quartile White = Bottom Quartile
|
North American Competitive Rankings |
||||||
2007
Report |
Vision |
Ability |
2006 Report |
Vision |
Ability |
|
| Aventail/SonicWall | Visionary |
1 |
8 |
Leader |
1 |
2 |
| AEP Networks | Niche Player |
12 | 10 |
Niche |
12 |
10 |
| Array Networks | Challenger |
9 |
4 |
Challenger |
10 |
3 |
| Caymas | Shutdown |
- |
- |
Visionary |
5 |
12 |
| Check Point | Visionary |
8 |
9 |
Visionary |
9 |
8 |
| Cisco | Visionary |
7 |
5 |
Visionary |
7 |
9 |
| Citrix |
Leader |
4 |
2 |
Visionary-Leader |
3 |
3 |
| F5 | Leader |
6 |
3 |
Visionary-Leader |
8 |
5 |
| Juniper | Leader |
3 |
1 |
Leader |
2 |
1 |
| Nortel | Niche Player |
10 |
7 |
Niche |
11 |
6 |
| Portwise | Visionary |
5 |
11 |
Visionary |
6 |
10 |
| NeoAccel | Niche Player |
10 |
12 |
N/A | N/A | |
| Microsoft (Whale) | Visionary |
2 |
6 |
Visionary |
3 |
7 |
Memory of 2004
The following is the Gartner view as of April 2004. Note the number of significant changes that have occurred since then.
