On June 30th, 2020 Gartner published the report, Hype Cycle for Network Security, 2020.* In this article, Gartner explains how enterprise IT has evolved into hybrid and multicloud infrastructures, as well as summarizes products that can be used to mitigate and prevent network security threats during this digital transformation.
The Hype Cycle
Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) are positioned at the peak in the Hype Cycle. We believe, both product sectors offer secure connectivity for distributed enterprise and mobile users to connect to Headquarters or access public cloud services, which are in high demand in this year, 2020.
The Priority Matrix
The innovation profiles in the Hype Cycle for Network Security have been partitioned into 16 segments on the Priority Matrix for Network Security, 2020:
- Gartner puts SD-WAN and Secure Enterprise Data Communications in the High Benefit and less than two years to adopt category
- IPS and Web Application Firewalls are in the Moderate Benefit and less than two years to adopt category.
Per our understanding, the majority of the other profiles are in the two to five years to adopt category. It is worth to notice that the work from home trend due to the Covid-19 pandemic makes Secure Enterprise Data Communications one of the most important technologies in IT as of now.
Network Firewalls
In our opinion, Network Firewalls are the first layer of defense in enterprise security solution. As a long-lasting product category, it has gone through several major changes in recent years. Per our understanding of the report, Network Firewalls have evolved in the following directions:
- Vendors not only supply hardware appliances, but also offer multiple, virtualized products like VPC virtual FW, FWaaS, and Container FW, etc.
- With new deployments in cloud environments, network firewalls are capable of protecting cloud workloads, which is far beyond traditional stateful, traffic inspection.
- Whether as a layer in Defense in Depth, or a network element within NFV, network firewalls have been integrated with other security services and security orchestration.
- In a physical appliance form factor, performance improvement is achieved through line card upgrades. It can also be easily done through vertical or horizontal scale up on virtual deployments.
- With improved CPU or increased cloud compute resources, additional advanced threat detection technologies have been integrated into network firewalls.
Firewall vendors have been incentivized to deliver products for cloud environments via market needs. Yet, it’s important to note that, in turn, cloud deployments also provide a much larger platform for firewalls to deliver more features and higher performance.
Hillstone Networks
Hillstone Networks has been recognized as a represented vendor in the report for Network Firewall and was included in the Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls in 2019. In addition to Network Firewalls, Hillstone offers other product categories that are mentioned in the Hype Cycle, such as SD-WAN, IPS, Firewall as a Service, Microsegmentation, Secure Enterprise Data Communications, Cloud Protection, etc. Contact your Hillstone authorized reseller or sales representative today to learn more.
*Gartner, ‘Hype Cycle for Network Security, 2020’, Pete Shoard, 30 June 2020.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
