Broader Network Security Market Also Jumps 18 Percent as Securing AI Remains Top Priority
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – September 9, 2026 – 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, the worldwide Network Security market reached nearly $8 B in 2Q 2026, up 18 percent year-over-year (Y/Y). Firewall growth accelerated from 9 percent in 1Q 2026 to 18 percent in 2Q 2026 as enterprises moved ahead with targeted lifecycle refreshes, capacity additions, branch modernization, and virtual enforcement. The broader market also strengthened as spending on data security and application front-door protection accelerated to support AI security initiatives, suggesting the quarter was broader than a hardware rebound.
“Firewall spending reaccelerated because customers had concrete reasons to modernize,” said Mauricio Sanchez, Sr. Director, Enterprise Security and Networking at Dell’Oro Group. “Aging infrastructure, higher throughput requirements, branch redesigns, and expanding private-cloud workloads created multiple reasons to refresh or add capacity. This was a real modernization cycle, but it was targeted rather than an estate-wide replacement wave.
“The broader Network Security result tells a second story. Due to the growing need to secure AI, enterprises are extending cloud-delivered security into sensitive-data controls while treating the application front door as a more strategic enforcement point for APIs, bots, and automated traffic. Those motions are expanding security spending beyond the Firewall refresh and helping keep growth broad across the market,” added Sanchez.
Additional highlights from the 2Q 2026 Network Security Quarterly Report:
- Firewalls: Refresh and capacity expansion were broad enough to lift multiple suppliers and deployment models, although vendor execution remained uneven. Virtual enforcement and branch modernization added to the opportunity.
- Web Application Firewalls (WAF): Demand continued to broaden from traditional web protection toward APIs, bots, automated traffic, and application-front-door consolidation, strengthening the role of WAF as a control point rather than a standalone rule-set product.
- Application Delivery Controllers (ADC): Installed-base modernization and capacity expansion improved the segment, led by F5’s BIG-IP migration cycle. The improvement remained concentrated, however, and should not be interpreted as a uniform recovery across suppliers.
- Security Service Edge (SSE) [Core]: Enterprises continued to expand cloud-delivered policy across users, devices, SaaS applications, and private applications, reinforcing SSE as a central control point for distributed security.
- Security Service Edge (SSE) [Extended]: Data Security emerged as the clearest expansion layer as customers attached sensitive-data controls and AI-governance functions to existing SSE relationships, though vendors monetized those capabilities through different packaging models.
The Dell’Oro Group Network Security Report includes manufacturers’ revenue covering the ADC, Firewall, SSE, traditional SWG appliances, and WAF product segments. Moreover, SSEs are further broken down into core (CASB, FWaaS, SWG, and ZTNA) and extended (data security and digital experience management) functions. 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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