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Palo Alto Networks is the current market leader in the field of network security and beats its competitor Cisco, according to a study by Analysys Mason.

Palo Alto Networks achieved a revenue of 869 million dollars (749 million euros) in the first quarter of this year. This revenue is mainly generated by the acquisition of eleven companies with a total amount of 2.5 billion dollars (2.15 billion euros) in the last five years. To put this growth into perspective, the revenue of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter of 2015 amounted to 234.2 million dollars (202 million euros).

According to Analysys Mason, Cisco had a revenue of 776 million dollars (669 million euros) in the first quarter of this year. Fortinet came in third with a revenue of 577 million dollars (497 million euros), and Check Point is not in the top three with 487 million dollars (420 million euros).

Growth

There is not one specific acquisition that has played a dominant role in the growth of Palo Alto Networks in the security sector. However, the acquisitions of Demisto (483 million euros), Twistlock (364 million euros) and CloudGenix (362 million euros) account for 60 percent of the company’s total acquisition expenditure over the last five years.

Tip: Demisto brings automation and orchestration to Palo Alto Networks

Analysys Mason notes that Cisco’s growth accelerated significantly in the second half of 2018 and 2019 due to the many mergers and acquisitions, including the major acquisition of Duo Security in 2018 for 2.35 billion dollars (2.02 billion euros).

Outside of the top 3

Although Palo Alto Networks ranks first in terms of revenue, Fortinet’s revenue growth in the second half of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 exceeded that of Palo Alto Networks. According to Analysys Mason, this is mainly due to the combined firewall and SD-WAN products.

Check Point’s growth has been steady in recent years, but it lags behind the other three companies. This is due to the lack of large mergers or acquisitions.

The companies outside the top four, such as Barracuda Networks and WatchGuard, are not even close. In addition to network security, these companies are now expanding their portfolios in order to distinguish themselves in the current market. For example, only last month WatchGuard acquired Panda Security.

Tip: Palo Alto Networks wants to be the central point for corporate networks