Explosion of Web 2.0 technologies boosts web application firewall market

By eGovInnovation Editors | Aug 8, 2011

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SINGAPORE  -- The Asia-Pacific web application firewall (WAF) market is poised for growth, with compound annual growth rate (CAGR) pegged at a strong 38.6 percent until 2015, up from the 28.4 percent year-on-year growth it posted in 2010.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan  showed that the market earned revenues of US$60.2 million in 2010 and estimates this to reach US$315.1 million in 2015.

The rapid emergence of Web 2.0 technologies in the enterprise environment, coupled with the fast growing consumer community of mobile devices played a pivotal role in steering the growth of Web applications, Frost & Sullivan said.

"Most of the markets in the region represent immense growth opportunities for WAFs as cyber attacks grow in sophistication and awareness levels among enterprises toward the technology improve," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Cathy Huang. "Regulatory compliance is another factor helping to push WAF uptake."

The government vertical experienced a huge surge, emerging as the second-largest adopter in the Asia-Pacific WAF market for 2010. As almost all the markets in the region were undergoing some form of e-government initiatives, WAF protection was viewed as a necessity to protect governmental assets on the Web.

Moreover, government sites are among those most commonly targeted by cyber criminals, regardless of how static or advanced the Website is. As a result, the government vertical (including the defense sector) became a key spender in the Asia-Pacific WAF market for 2010. The major contributing countries include China and South Korea.

Although the demand for WAF has gone beyond the hype phase in many ways in Asia Pacific, there is still prevailing market confusion surrounding the unique value proposition that WAF offers. Countries in Asia Pacific had only witnessed the adoption of WAF in limited verticals where enterprises were relatively more security-conscious. Moreover, the current status of incorporating Web technologies into business setup is still low in some of the Asia Pacific countries.