Cloud-Delivered Security Continues to Outperform while Hardware-centric Segments Normalize
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – December 4, 2025 – According to a recently published report from Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, global Network Security revenue surpassed $6 B in 3Q 2025 and is on track to exceed $26 B for the full year 2025. Growth remained anchored in cloud-delivered security controls, led by Security Service Edge (SSE) and Web Application Firewalls (WAF). At the same time, traditional hardware firewall appliances continued to advance at a more measured pace.
“The gap between cloud-native agility and legacy hardware has never been starker; while the total market grew 9 percent, SSE surged 20 percent, and WAF climbed 12 percent, proving that the edge is where the modern security budget is actually being spent,” said Mauricio Sanchez, Sr. Director, Enterprise Security and Networking at Dell’Oro Group. “We are seeing a clear bifurcation in the market: traditional firewall appliances are growing in the low single digits as refresh cycles normalize, but the urgent demand for decentralized access and robust application protection is fueling a massive migration of value to the cloud edge.”
Additional highlights from the 3Q 2025 Network Security Quarterly Report:
- SSE remained the single most significant contributor to market expansion, sustaining nearly 20 percent Y/Y growth as organizations increased adoption of zero-trust user access and cloud-native inspection.
- WAF revenue rose mid-teens, supported by continued investment in application modernization initiatives.
- Firewalls saw modest single-digit growth, an improvement over flat performance in the previous quarter, indicating a steady but maturing hardware market.
- The Network Security market is projected to approach $29 B in 2026, driven by stronger growth than in 2025, driven by cloud workload adoption and sustained demand for application-layer protections.
The Dell’Oro Group Network Security Quarterly Report includes manufacturers’ revenue covering the ADC, Firewall, SSE, traditional SWG appliances, and WAF product segments. Moreover, SSEs are further broken down across four primary functions: CASB, FWaaS, SWG, and ZTNA. The report also splits many segments by form factor: physical, virtual, and SaaS. To purchase this report, please contact us at dgsales@delloro.com.
Dell’Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, security, enterprise networks, and data center markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell’Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit https://www.delloro.com.
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