Mobile phone firm leads firewall market growth

NEWS Mobile phone giant Nokia is proving a dab hand in VPN (virtual private network) security, according to a survey published late yesterday by analysts IDC. The Finnish company gained 11 per cent on competitors such as Lucent and WatchGuard in the firewall/VPN market in 2000, recording the fastest growth with a 22 per cent share overall. However, Cisco dominated as the major revenue winner. Rival SonicWALL sold the most units in the firewall/VPN market, which is predicted to grow from about £942m presently to $4bn by 2005. In December, a report from internet researcher Rhetorik said that security and performance concerns limited the growth of VPNs.